


Being Yourself

by CartoonLover



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen, Like they will kill you if you intentionally misgender Louie, Non-Binary Louie, Super supportive, These kids have problems, They love each other so much, and fluff, aro!huey, but not until chapter 21, but not until chapter 37, gay!dewey, lotta angst, none of these kids are straight, supportive family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 55
Words: 117,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonLover/pseuds/CartoonLover
Summary: Oneshots about Non-Binary Louie and their family!





	1. Knowing & Telling

**Author's Note:**

> Louie's my favorite character and I just feel like there's not enough stories about him!  
> You guys I'm so excited to be writing this as a fellow enby I feel like there could be more representation and I'm so happy to be writing it!  
> Pre-start of the show. 
> 
> ENJOY!:D

Had Louie always known?

No.

Did they feel bad for not always knowing?

Also no. How could they've? It's not something you're born knowing, but it also doesn't happen overnight. It's not like they woke up one day and were like 'I'm non-binary!', no there were subtle signs, little things here and there. Every time someone referred to them as a boy they would subtly cringe, they think Huey might have noticed but they couldn't be sure, and when they tried to refer to themself as a girl they cringed again. They hadn't known about non-binary at first, it wasn't until after they got their phone did they learn the term, as well as some other ones but that was for another day. When they read it and saw what it was it was like something clicked, finally a term that fit them! 

There were others things as well like not wanting to play a boy character when they and their brothers were playing pretend and not really liking suits, but really what kid did? They also had a problem when people used Llewelyn instead of Louie even when their brothers did it and the other two had no problems with their siblings using their real name, that was probably the first thing that tipped them off, why would they have a problem with it unless they weren't a boy? 

They wouldn't.

The triplets were thick as thieves and always would be, they share practically everything and can't sleep unless they're all in the same room so it had to be something else. And something else it was. They were non-binary simple as that, or not they still had to tell the others and for the first time in their life they were nervous to tell them something, how would they react? Would they hate them? They knew they couldn't handle that, their family was everything to them even if they didn't always act like it. 

What were they gonna do? 

* * *

After the fifth day of Donald knowing something was wrong with Louie, he went to talk to him. He was with his brothers in their room, they had both refused to leave his side since they noticed something was wrong with him. It was sweet, but it made talking to him a lot harder. 

"Louie can I talk to you?" Donald asked as he walked into the room, he vaguely noticed Huey and Dewey look up from their card game before turning his full attention to the duck laying facing down on his bed. 

"Whatever you think I did I didn't." They replied barely lifting their head up, Donald rolled his eyes at the reply and pretended not to notice Huey and Dewey's eyes on him. 

"You're not in trouble, I just want to know what's wrong." 

"Well I guess now's a good a time as any. I need to tell you guys something." Huey and Dewey joined them on the bed as they sit themself up but don't look at any of the others so they don't see their concerned looks. 

They didn't need to look to know it was there. 

"Louie?" Huey questioned quietly touching their arm, they cringed away and curled into themself. 

"I'm non-binary!" 

"Okay."

"Okay? Okay!" 

"What did you think we'd hate you? Gee, you think you'd have more faith in us!" 

"I dunno..." 

"Louie," Donald started, "There isn't anything you could tell me that would make me hate you, that goes for all of you. Understand?"

"Yes Uncle Donald." 

"So you guys are really okay with it?" Huey and Dewey shared a look before playfully jumping on Louie. 

"Answer your question?" Donald looked at them fondly before getting up. "I'm going to start making dinner."

"Do you need any help?" Huey questioned from the triplet pile though it's hard to say where his voice was coming from. 

"No, you kids hang out."

"Don't burn down the kitchen!" Donald rolled his eyes at Dewey's response as he walks out. 

* * *

 "So why did you take so long to tell us?"  The triplets laid on Louie's bed all worn out Dewey, who had asked the question, turned to look at Louie who was looking up. 

"Yeah, it's not like us to keep secrets from each other." Louie sighed and rised up a little using their wings as support the other two followed suit and waited patiently for their answer. 

"I don't know, it was stupid but I really didn't know how you'd react." 

"I guess I get it but Uncle Donald was right there isn't anything you could say that could make me hate you."

"Ditto." Dewey replied lightly bumping their shoulder. 

"You guys are the best." Dewey got a mischievous look on his face before quickly grabbing Louie's pillow and hitting them with it and as the three of them had an epic pillow fight Louie knew they were going to be alright. 

Everything was going to be alright. 


	2. Misgendering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids at school aren't exactly accepting...  
> Pre-start of the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect 2 uploads a week!

If there was one thing Louie hated it was school they were woken up way too earlier, the classes were boring, and the food was horrible but they could get through it, barely. Their brothers helped immensely but only so much could be done. 

"Hey Louie." Dewey says as he and Huey join them at the lunch table they give a finger gun in greeting and go back to picking at their food. 

"Are you guys ready for the math test today?" 

"No way." "There's a math test today?!" Huey and Dewey look at Louie in surprise as they slam their head on the table with a groan.

"How could you forget that?"

"Yeah, you're usually so on top of these things." 

"Leave me alone I've had a busy week." 

"Yeah lounging around is _soo_ much work!" 

"Exactly! Wait..." Huey quickly breaks up the festering fight and hands Louie a book.

"Study." They take the book with a sigh and close it after 5 seconds.

"Nope, too hard." 

"Come on you know Uncle Donald will kill you if you fail again. Both of you." Dewey waves off his concern and Louie shrugs. 

"Pretty sure I can wing it." 

"We'll see."

* * *

"Winged it!"

"How?!" Huey and Dewey reply as they all walk out of math; they look at Louie's paper which as an A on it with shock. 

"Guess I have Uncle Gladstone's luck." 

Huey rolls his eyes, "One Gladstone is enough." They continue to walk down the hall when a big bear slams into Huey.

"Watch where you going, dork!" Dewey and Louie glare at his back as Huey rubs his shoulder. 

"I hate that guy!" 

"Ditto." 

"Guys leave it alone." They both nod but share a look, this isn't over. They walk to their next class and Louie groans when they see a sub. 

"Great.." Their brothers pat their arm sympathetically as they all walk to their seats.  

"Good afternoon class I am Ms. Roberts I will be your sub today. Time for roll call, Lily Anderson?"

"Here." 'Oh boy,' Louie thinks as she calls out Huey's name 'I'm next.' 

"Llewelyn Duck?" They cringe as they hear that and try to ignore the other classmates snickering.

"It's Louie." 

"Dude it's a sub," Another student interjects, "Just go by Llewelyn for the day like everyone else." 

"It's not worth it." Huey whispers to them as he sees them about to response they sigh and sink in their chair. 

"Today we will be learning about..." Louie drowns her out after that but makes it look like their paying attention, they had years of practice. 

"Llewelyn pay attention!" They suddenly snap up when they notice Ms. Roberts glare on them.

"Yeah Llewelyn." A student teases and Louie cliches their hand in anger before turning around.

"Shut up." They grit out.

"Make me!"

"Boys!" The sub interrupts, "Stop this instant!" Huey and Dewey look at Louie worriedly as they freeze. 

"What's wrong Louie? You are a boy." At this Huey and Dewey focus their attention on the student with the most hateful glare you could ever see. 

"No  _they're_ not." Huey replies calmly but you can see he's about to explode.

"Settle down this instant all of you or you're going to the principles office!" 

"Well maybe he can give him trouble for misgendering someone." Dewey responses to the shock of the sub.

"Principles office now!" 

"With pleasure!" Dewey replies as he walks out and slams the door behind him, Huey and Louie look at each other worriedly before Ms. Roberts slams a ruler on the board.

"Would anyone else like to join him?"

* * *

 "Again Dewey?" Donald questions as he leads him into the houseboat.

"It's was different this time!" Dewey protests as he's pushed on the couch, Huey and Louie are pushed into their room but press their ears against the door.

"How?" 

"Someone misgendered Louie I had to!" 

"Again? Why aren't the teachers doing anything?" 

Dewey shrugs, "There was a sub today, she used Louie's dead name, then called them a boy. Then another student intentionally called them a boy I couldn't just sit there!" 

"You did the right thing Dewey. Tomorrow I'm going down there something has to be done about this!" 

"So I'm not in trouble?" 

Donald bends down to his level, "No, Dewey you stood up for your sibling you'll never get in trouble for that. I'm proud of you."

Dewey gets a small smile, "Thanks Uncle Donald." 

"No problem Dewey, you guys can come out now." Huey and Louie come out with a sheepish look on their faces and join Dewey on the couch.

"How are you feeling, Louie?" 

"Better, thanks Uncle Donald and... thanks Dewey that meant a lot." Dewey slings an arm over them. 

"Anytime dude." 


	3. Introducing.... Anxiety!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some mornings are harder than others...  
> Pre-start of the show.

The minute Louie woke up they knew it was going to be a bad day. They threw their pillow over their head with a huff, they did not want to get up so imagine their annoyance when their blanket got pulled off of them. 

"Come on Louie time to get up."

"Ugh go away." 

"Dude you sound dead."

"Shut up." Huey stopped whatever retort Dewey had and sighed,

"Let's let them sleep a little longer." They both walked out and Louie tried to go back to sleep but couldn't 'of course!' they thought with a groan and rolled over. They didn't know what was wrong exactly they just knew something was. They got out of their bed, they need their brothers right now. They walked into the living room of the houseboat to see them watching something on TV.

"Morning Louie!" They both said when they heard them walk in. Louie groaned and crawled between them, they both looked at each other and nodded before throwing an arm around them and pulling them closer to both of them.

"What's wrong Louie?" They shrugged and sighed,

"Just one of those days. Everything just feels... weird." 

"Weird how?" They shrugged again,

"I dunno like, I feel sorta panicky? Like something could go wrong at any second." Huey got a look on his face which makes Dewey confused but he figures he'll find out soon enough. 

"Have you felt like this before?" 

"Sometimes." 

"Louie it kind of sounds like you have anxiety. There are more symptoms of course but if this is happening often it's something you should really look into."

Louie was silent for a few seconds, "What are the other symptoms?"

"Umm according to Junior Woodchucks guidebook," He pulled out said book and turned to a page, "Insomnia, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, trembling, and difficulty thinking clearly about anything other than the thing you’re worried about; these are just some of the symptoms there are a lot more, have you experience these in the past?" 

"Well I worry about our situation a lot but we all do, I never thought much about it, now that you mention it yeah I have noticed this stuff in the past, it never seemed like a big deal though after a few minutes I was completely fine." 

Huey looked at them, "You should have said something Louie, this is serious."

"Sorry I didn't think it was."

"Lie." Louie cringed slightly, they couldn't keep anything from them!

"Okay okay, I... didn't wanna worry you guys we have enough to worry about I didn't want to add to it."

"Louie, we're your brothers we're always gonna worry about you. Especially when you don't tell us stuff."

"Yeah seriously dude stop keeping stuff from us."

"Yeah, you're right sorry." 

"You're forgiven."

"So feeling any better?" 

Louie nods, "Yeah I think I am, thanks guys." They both nodded and all of them starting watching TV, curled next to each other.

* * *

When Donald came home from work, exhausted he was expecting three kids running to hug him like always so when he didn't get that you could say he was a bit surprised but he figured out why when he saw them curled up on the couch with Louie in middle passed out. Huey and Dewey waved when they saw him and he gave them a questioning look.

"They had a long day." Huey whispered and Donald nodded.

"What do you boys want for dinner?" Both shrugged, Donald sighed before plopping down with them.

"How was work?" 

"Awful, really glad to be home." He smiled at both of them and put an arm over all three of them. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Louie woke up.

"Morning sleeping beauty." Louie rolled their eyes and lightly hit Dewey.

"Hey Uncle Donald." 

"Huey said you had a long day, want to talk about it?" 

Louie hesitated before getting nudged by Huey, "When I woke up this morning I felt kinda off? Like something was wrong even though I didn't know what... Uncle Donald, I think I might have anxiety."

"Well I wouldn't be surprised, it runs in the family." The three of them looked at him shocked and he nods.

"You mean you have it too?"

"Yup being a sailor can do that to you and having three hyperactive kids." They all look sheepishly at him and he just rolls his eyes fondly. 

"It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you Louie, it's just something you have and something you can deal with, as long as you know how."

"How?"

"Being around people you love helps a lot." Donald replied squeezing all three of them close to him. All of them started watching TV and Louie sightly smiled.

Being around loved ones, they could do that. 

 


	4. Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Louie enough?  
> Pre-start of the show

If you told Louie their brothers were great, they honestly would have believed you, though not many people told them that, other than Uncle Donald, the kids at school never seemed to like them too much and that was fine with Louie, their brothers would always be enough. The problem was that Huey and Dewey were great and they couldn't understand how people didn't like them, they could understand how people didn't like them they were too selfish, they cared too much about money, the list goes on and on. 

But their brothers? They were smart and adventurous and super nice and everything they could hope for in brothers. They were also stupidly loyal especially to them and they couldn't understand why, they didn't deserve it and they were just waiting for the day they figured it out. 

"Hey Lou." Dewey said as he and Huey joined them on the couch, Louie gave them a nod in greeting and barely turned to look at them. 

"Whatcha watching?"

Louie shrugged, "I would change it but," He pointed to the remote on the other side of the couch, "The remotes allll the way over there." The other two rolled their eyes in response and Huey grabbed the remote and started to flip through the channels. After a few minutes he settled on a random show and they all watched in silence. 

"Welp I'm bored you guys wanna do something else?"

"What else is there to do? Uncle Donald said not to leave the boat."

"Oh Hubert, how would he ever find out?" 

"You raise a good point."

"Then let's gooo!" Huey and Louie looked each other and shrugged before they jumped off the couch and followed him. 

"Okay, that's far enough." Huey said when they were a few feet from the boat.

"We haven't even left the dock yet!" 

"Okay so where exactly are we going Dewford?"

"Anywhere that's not here, Hubert!" 

"Not again!" They both stopped and turned to Louie with guilty expressions.

"Sorry..."

"Yeah sorry dude." They nodded and the three of them went silent. 

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to walk through town for awhile Uncle Donald won't be back for a few hours anyway." As they walked around town they talked about random stuff, teased each other and lightly bickered, overall they acted like normal siblings, even though they weren't but it was nice to act normal for a day. They arrived back the houseboat before Uncle Donald got there to all of their relieves, they walked in and plopped down on the couch. 

"So what's up with you Louie? You've been acting weird all day, don't think we didn't notice." 

"... why do you guys care so much about me?"

"I'm sorry what?!" 

"Yeah I'm selfish and lazy and I care about money way too much."

"Did someone say something to you?" 

"No! I just don't get it you guys are so great and I'm just... me." Huey and Dewey looked at each other worried and confused.

"Why wouldn't you think you're great?" Huey starts, "Sure you're a little selfish sometimes but you also care a lot about the people closest to you, you got really upset when Dewey and I were fighting earlier! And you're not lazy, not all the time you sew stuff for us and you help Uncle Donald with money management and it's understandable you care about money so much you don't want us to have worry about it and all that's amazing. But Louie we care about you cause you're you and you're our sibling," He put a hand on Louie's shoulder, "And we love you, so much. Please don't ever doubt that again." 

"But if you do we'll be here to remind you." 

Louie smiles at the both of them, "Thanks you guys." They wipe their eye.

"Are you crying Lou-Lou?" Dewey teases, elbowing them.

"No you are shut up." Huey and Dewey laugh and after a few seconds, Louie joins them. They don't know if they're enough but as long as their brothers think so,

They will be. 

* * *

Nights on the houseboat were quiet, everyone was peacefully sleeping except for Louie the night, it seems, is the perfect time to think and as they laid awake in their bed, they did just that. They were worried, Uncle Donald got fired again and it would probably be a couple of days before he got a new job, they couldn't help but think if they and their brothers weren't there life would be a lot easier for Uncle Donald. They certainly didn't help, always complaining about everything and obsessing over money, they knew Huey said it was understandable but they also knew it made it hard on Uncle Donald sometimes and they hated that.  

They heard the door open and quickly acted like they were asleep, they heard steps go up the ladder and say goodnight to their brothers before climbing back down and kissing them on the head.

"Goodnight Louie, don't worry I'll figure something out." He whispered and Louie slightly smiled and snuggled into their sheets. 

Maybe everything would be okay after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I wasn't planning to write the part after the break, it just sorta happened. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed it!


	5. First Adventure Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures are tiring...  
> Set after the first episode

The triplets groaned as they walked into the manor, they were followed by an overly enthusiastic Webby and a worn out Donald. Their first ever adventure while exciting was also very tiring and they wanted nothing more than to just relax.

Louie plopped down on the floor, "Never again." They said as they laid there, refusing to move. 

"Wow I can't believe Louie's dead." Dewey said lacklusterly and Louie swatted the air in response.

"How are you guys so tired? That was exciting! Can we go on another one?" 

"Maybe tomorrow lass," Scrooge said as he walked in, the triplets groaned again, "Maybe not." 

"Maybe not is right, the kids need rest. " Donald said as he nudged Louie up who immediately almost fell back down but was supported by Huey just in time. 

"Oh! You guys have to pick out your rooms!" The three of them jumped and looked excited. They turned to Donald with pleading looks, he nodded and they cheered before they ran off but quickly came back to grab their uncle then the four of them went upstairs followed by Webby. They looked at a few rooms before deciding on one and walking in. 

"You guys are gonna share?" They looked at her funny and nodded.

"Yeah why wouldn't we?" She shrugged and looked around, it was small but cozy.

"We'll have to move the tri-bunk bed in here tomorrow looks like you'll have to share a bed tonight." 

"Way ahead of you." Louie said from the bed Huey and Dewey rolled their eyes fondly then joined them. Donald also plopped down across the bed and Webby walked out quietly, she would go see what her Granny was up to. The triplets looked at each other worriedly and Dewey poked Donald and he lifted his head. 

"Oh good, we thought you were dead."

"Why do you think everyone's dead?" Dewey shrugged and laid back down.

"Uncle Donald are you gonna get another job?" 

"Probably." The triplets shrunk at that Donald's face soften and he sat up even more. "Or I could see if Scrooge would give me a job." They cheered and jumped on Donald who smiled and let them, he always had a soft spot for his kids. 

"I should go do that now." He said carefully getting up, "I'll see you guys at dinner okay?" They nodded in agreement and Donald walked out.

"Does this mean Uncle Donald'll be coming on adventures with us?" 

"If Uncle Scrooge gives him a job probably."

"Why wouldn't he?" Huey shrugged and laid down on his stomach using his wings to prop him up.

"Guys this is the softest bed I've ever been on!" Dewey said as he joined him they both looked at Louie who shrugged and joined them. 

"I don't know it feels kind of weird, like a cloud." 

"Sleeping on a cloud would be awesome!" 

"No it wouldn- you would fall right through!" 

"Says who?"

"Physics!" Louie watched their brothers bicker with a tired smile after the hype of choosing a room wore off they went back to being exhausted. They slowly closed their eyes and were out before they could notice their brothers quiet down. 

* * *

"Hey guys it's time for dinner!" Louie jumped up as they heard Webby yell Huey and Dewey paused their conversation to glare at Webby who looked at them sheepishly.

"Sorry.." Louie waved her off sat up and stretched.

"Have a nice nap?" Huey asked as the three of them got off the bed Louie nodded and yawned.

"Guess I was more tired than I thought." 

"I'll say." Louie rolled his eyes and playfully pushed Dewey, Dewey pushed him back and Huey intervened before it turned serious like everytime before. When they all walked into the kitchen they were greeted with a dinner fit for a king or at least a trillionaire. The triplets sat down in awe and started eating, Webby was used to it.

After dinner they went and watched TV with their brothers and Uncle Donald for a few hours before he sent them all off to bed. When they got settled in he bent down and kissed each of their foreheads and told them goodnight.

"Goodnight Uncle Donald." They all said back and sat up after he walked out.

"You guys tired?"

"I had like a 2-hour nap earlier, no way." 

"Maybe we should and sleep it's been a long day and tomorrow probably will be as well."

"I hope not. I'm gonna be so sore in the morning." Huey and Dewey nodded in agreement.

"It was fun though." 

"Yeah it was great actually getting to do something and now we get to do it all the time!" 

"I wouldn't say all the time, we have other priorities." 

"What could be more important than adventuring?"

"School, for one." Dewey and Louie groaned, "I know you guys don't like it but it's necessary."

"It wouldn't be so bad if the people there weren't so close-minded." 

"Maybe we could ask Uncle Donald for a transfer, we have the funds now."

"No Uncle Scrooge has the funds there's no way he'd be willing to pay for it." 

"So we're stuck." 

"Yup." 

"Great." 

"Hey," Huey said, "As long as we have each other we'll be okay." Louie and Dewey rolled their eyes but nodded. 

They would be okay. They would all be okay. 


	6. Change... It's What You Make Of It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Change is overwhelming...  
> Set after the first couple of episodes.

Two groans sounded when Huey's alarm clock went off after a few seconds it stopped signaling Huey had turned it off. Louie sighed in relief and shoved their face in their pillow. They vaguely heard movement above them and knew their brothers were getting out of bed and getting ready for the day they sighed again this time in annoyance they knew that they had to get up to. 

"Louie? Ready to join the land of the living?" Dewey teased and Louie rolled away from them. 

"5 more minutes."

"And this is why you don't stay up half the night on your phone." 

"Shut up." Huey rolled his eyes, he knew how cranky they could get in the morning. 

"Come on Dewey let's go get breakfast they'll join us soon enough." They both walked out and Louie closed their eyes for a few seconds before they popped back open, Louie groaned and got up. Maybe Huey was onto something staying up that late only brought regret, they couldn't even remember what they had been doing. 

When they got downstairs they saw breakfast was almost over but sat down and ate anyway. 

"What's everyone got planned today?" Scrooge asked the triplets looked at each other before shrugging.

"Well that's no good what do ye' say ta an adventure?" Huey and Dewey looked excited but Louie was unsure they were still pretty tired from the last adventure they went on and staying up late last night certainly didn't help, but they didn't want to say anything and ruin the excitement, too bad their Uncle was really good at reading them.  

"Didn't you go on an adventure a couple days ago?" Donald asked with a raised eyebrow the fact that he asked that clued Huey and Dewey into that something was wrong, he had been really lenient with stuff like this lately. They were about to say something when Louie's head dropped on the table and Donald gave Scrooge a look. 

"Well if the lads too tired we can go without 'im." 

"We're not going without Louie." Huey said with a glare and went to wake them up. They jumped up and looked around before sinking in their chair. 

A little while later the triplets were watching TV in the den, Donald was at his new job at the money bin and Webby was with her Granny. 

"Lads!" Scrooge shouted with he walked in, Louie cringed and Huey and Dewey fought the urge to yell at him. "What are ye' doin'? Don't yew want to do something?"

"We are," Louie said not looking up from the TV, "We're watching TV."

"Ae meant something more... active like playin' one of the war games with Webbigail, where is she anyway?" 

"With Beakley." 

"Ah, well ae'm sure there's plenty else yew can do." He said walking over and turning the TV off which made the triplets groan.

"Run along now." Huey and Dewey got up and left but Louie stayed where they were and Scrooge raised an eyebrow. 

"I'm good." They said pulling out their phone which promptly got taken away.

"Hey!" 

"Yew can have this back at the end of the day." Louie glared at him and walked out they subconsciously reached in their hoodie pocket and momentarily freaked out when they felt nothing, there was a reason they always had their phone on them. This is so stupid Uncle Donald would have never taken their phone! But he did know how much they needed it, okay this is okay they've survived without for 10 years they could last a day. No they couldn't.

They sat down on the stairs and tried to calm down. 

"Louie?" They heard a voice ask but didn't acknowledge it.

"Oh no." A second voice said and they both sat by them, close but not close enough to freak them out. 

"Breathe, Louie breathe. You're okay." After a few seconds Louie calmed down and leaned against Huey.

"What happened?" Dewey asked as he scooted closer to the both of them and put a hand on Louie. 

"Scrooge took my phone." Huey and Dewey shared a look and continued to comfort them. 

"What's going on Louie?" 

They sighed, "Everything's changing it's too much. Too much is happening I just.. need an off day." 

"Then let's go watch TV again."

"How do we know Scrooge won't stop us?" 

"Okaaay how bout we go hang out in our room?" Huey and Louie nodded and the three of them walked upstairs when they got to their room, Dewey threw their door open which made Huey glare at him. They all walked in and sat on Louie's bed.

"This is great but I still don't have my phone!" Dewey got up went to the desk and pulled something out of a drawer,

"How bout a card game?" 

* * *

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you guys are letting me win." Louie said as they won for the 6th time Dewey rolled his eyes as Huey shuffled the deck again but both were glad Louie seemed to be feeling better. Well they were until the glanced at the clock, they groaned as they laid face down on their bed.

"This day is gonna last forever!" Huey patted them comfortingly as Dewey got a look on his face.

"What are you thinking Dewey?" 

"What if there was a way to Louie's phone back?" 

Louie sat up, "I'm listening..." 

"Off the top of my head I'm thinking, Huey distracts while I grab it." 

"Why do I have to distract?"

"You have butter hands and he'd see Louie coming a mile away, he's expecting them to try and take it."  

"Fine." 

Louie brightens up, "You guys are the best." 

"We are aren't we?" Louie shoved Dewey with a grin and then he and Huey walked out, while Louie sprawled out on their bed. A lot had changed it was good but it was still change, they didn't do well with change. They were glad to be here, this room was larger than the one they had on the houseboat and Webby and Beakley were great, they didn't always get along with Scrooge, like right now, but he was fun to be around. But there was some small part of them wishing everything was still the same, it was just them, their brothers, and Uncle Donald living on the houseboat, they were all they ever needed why did that have to change? 

Their brothers walked in with Dewey holding their phone,

"Mission accomplished." He tossed it to them and they caught it with a glare,

"Oh how I've missed you," They held it close to them, "Thanks guys."

"Feel better?"

"Yeah.."

" _Louie_." 

"Why do things have to change?" 

"That's just how life works, everything grows and changes, 'the only constant in life is change' you just have to focus on the good parts of change. We met Uncle Scrooge and Webby and Mrs. Beakley, Uncle Donald has a stable job with a good income-"

"And we live in a mansion!" 

"It's too big."

"It can seem that way sometimes yes but you have to admit it's a more suitable home than houseboat even if we do still think of it as our home." 

"You're right, I guess this is just part of anxiety."

"There's nothing wrong with that, change can be scary I know I was a little scared when we first moved in here you just have to remind yourself it's not all bad." 

"Yeah I'll be sure to do that." Huey and Dewey smiled at them and they smiled back, that was the moment they knew, as long as they had their brothers,

They would be okay. 


	7. Telling Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Telling Scrooge, Webby, and Beakley.  
> Set after the first couple of episodes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick shoutout JesusLover thanks for all the comments! It really means a lot, I'm glad you enjoy my stories!

Louie paced their room anxiously they were thinking about doing it, they really were but surprise surprise they were really well, anxious about it. They didn't know how they'd react and they really liked it here and so did their brothers but they were so tired of being called 'lad' and 'nephew' and ' _he_ ' it made them feel sick. 

But could they actually do it?

Maybe.

But the thought of it... 

Maybe not. 

Urgh this was so frustrating! Why are they overthinking this so much? Oh wait, they know it the stupid anxiety's fault. They groaned and threw themself on their bed. 

A knock sounded on the door. "Louie? You've been in there all day, you okay?" 

"No." The door opened Huey walked in and raised an eyebrow before he joined Louie on their bed, he laid down next to them back-down and turned his head to face them. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I think I'm ready to tell them."

"Think?" 

"I don't know! What if they hate me?" 

"Why would you want them around if they did?" That's why they liked talking to Huey about this stuff, Dewey would just threaten to hurt them and there were times when they didn't need that. 

"Good point but you guys-"

"Care about you way more than some people we just met. But Louie what if they accept you?" 

"I... I don't know." 

"And you won't know until you talk to them."  

"You're right but I'm still nervous." 

"We'll be right there with you." He rubbed their back and watched them for a few seconds he couldn't help but sympathize with them, they were going through so much stuff they shouldn't have to go through. But they would be okay, he had full faith in that. They both jumped out of their thoughts when the door suddenly swung open and Dewey jumped in covered in darts, Huey and Louie looked at each other with wide eyes before they busted out laughing. 

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Uncle Donald asked them for the thousandth time, they were currently sitting in the den with him and their brothers. 

"Yes." They responded for the thousandth time you would think they would be annoyed by now but they were more touched about how much he cared about them than anything. 

"Okay, do you want me to go get them or..." 

"You go." He nodded and walked out, Louie started playing with their fingers nervously and Huey grabbed their hand and squeezed it reassuringly. They smiled shakily at him and sunk into the couch. 

"You can still back out of this you know." Dewey said as he sunk next to them.

Louie looked at the floor and shrugged, "If I don't do this now I may never do it." 

Dewey nodded and shared a look with Huey, they could practically feel their anxiety and that didn't make them feel better about this whole thing. They all froze up as they heard arguing down the hall. Louie curled up in a ball Dewey was quick to go try to alleviate it and Huey set to comforting Louie. When the arguing stopped they calmed down a little bit and leaned into Huey. After a few seconds Dewey popped his head into the room Huey nodded and he disappeared back behind the door when he came back he had everyone with him. Louie sat up and tried not to look like they were about to freak out, this was it the moment of truth.

"Is there some reason Ae was pulled from me office?" 

"Yeah actually I have to tell you guys something... I'm nonbinary basically that means that I'm not a boy or a girl and I go by they/them pronouns." 

"Cool was that it?" Webby questioned and Huey gave Louie a knowing look. 

"Yeah that was it, are you guys okay with that?" 

"It's unreasonable to assume everyone aligns with their assigned gender and to do so would be moronic." 

"Yeah Granny's right you are who you are, thanks for telling us Louie it must've been tough." 

"You have no idea." They suddenly noticed Scrooge hadn't said a word and hesitantly looked at him.

"...Uncle Scrooge?" Mrs. Beakley gently and quietly led Webby out and the others glared at Scrooge, he walked more into the room and sat down on the couch.

"Suppose that explains all the glarin'." The others looked at each other and Dewey and Donald joined them on the couch. "Ae dinnae quite understand it but Beakley's right, it would be stupid ta not accept somethin' just cause yew dinnae understand it." 

Louie smiled, "Thanks Uncle Scrooge." 

"Anytime la-kiddo." He smiled back rubbed their head and walked out, Louie huffed as they fixed their hair and slouched back into the couch.

Huey nudged them, "Told you it'd be okay." 

"Yeah you were right again what a surprise."  

Donald got up, "Okay guys it's late you have school tomorrow time for bed." Dewey and Louie groaned and even Huey looked apprehensive Donald sighed knowing the reason why. As he tucked them in he made a resolution to go talk to Scrooge, it was long overdue. 

* * *

"Are you guys at all ready for school tomorrow?" 

"Nerp." "No. You?" 

"No way." 

"We could skip?" 

"No." Huey shut down immediately and Dewey sighed he would rather get in serious trouble then have Louie continue to deal with those jerks, too bad Huey wouldn't. Their sibling was more important than school he couldn't understand how Huey didn't see that but Huey was a nerd so... 

Huey sighed as he turned in bed truthfully he would love nothing more than to skip or at least for Louie too but he knew that just wasn't possible, they couldn't attract too much attention to themselves one wrong move and they could be taken away from Uncle Donald. Not that he would ever tell them that it was his burden to know alone. 

Louie really didn't want to go to school tomorrow or ever really but it didn't help that this school was the worst cause not only were they getting bullied their brothers were starting to be too, they didn't tell them but Louie's always known their brothers like the back of their own hand. 

Little did they all know things were about to change for the better.


	8. Storms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storms are scary...  
> Set sometime in the series.

The triplets and Webby were watching TV, bored out of their minds when they heard the front door open they looked at each other and the triplets noticed the time, they jumped up and went to the front door.

"Uncle Donald!" They cheered as they went to hug him,

"Kids!" He cheered as he hugged them back after they let go they started to talk all at once,

"One at a time." 

"Sorry Uncle Donald." 

"How was work?" Huey asked as they led him into the den Donald groaned as he sat on the couch,

"That answers that." They joined him on the couch and went back to watching TV.

"What is this show?"

"Ottoman Empire." Donald rolled his eyes, what kids were into these days... But he got to spend time with his kids so he could endure it, for a little bit at least. For awhile the only sound was the TV and the kids shushing one another whenever they spoke until,

**BOOM!**

Everyone jumped and Donald sighed as rain started to pour down,

"Wow it's a good thing you didn't get caught in that Uncle Donald." 

"Yeah knowing your luck." Huey elbowed him and he glared as he rubbed his side nobody noticed Louie starting to slightly shake, they did not like thunderstorms. They subtly leaned towards their Uncle Donald, he always made them feel safe, they felt a little better but not much. They didn't think their family knew they were scared of thunderstorms, they never told them but they wouldn't be surprised if they knew with just the four of them for 10 years they learned to read each other pretty well. 

 **BOOM!**  

Louie jumped again and clung to their uncle, this time everyone noticed. 

"Louie? You okay?" They shook their head which was buried in their uncle's side and he sighed and wrapped an arm around them. Huey and Dewey shared a look and Dewey turned off the TV he knew when his sibling was overloaded and this was one of those times. Huey put a hand on them and started to rub their back he knew in most cases when someone was overloaded you weren't supposed to touch them but this was Louie, and they got comfort from touch or more specifically their families touch. 

"Wanna tell us what exactly is wrong." 

"I-it's too loud and to-oo many bad things can happen like what if a tr-tree falls on the manor or lighting starts a f-fire?" Donald sighed and pulled them closer he knew exactly what they were going through, he worried about the same thing but they were just a kid, they shouldn't be worrying about that. 

"I lived here for 10 years and that's never happened." Webby said and they all jumped, they kind of forgot she was there. 

"Well what if it happens now?!" Webby went silent, she didn't have an answer for that. 

"Don't worry Louie I won't let anything happen to you kids." 

**BOOM!**

Louie squeezed closer to their uncle and started to cry; Huey and Dewey looked at each other worriedly and Donald felt his heart break, he hated when his kids cried and it felt like there was nothing he could do. He simply pulled Louie into his lap and let them cry it out, there's nothing else he could do they were too scared; Huey and Dewey pressed into their uncle offering comfort in any way they could. Louie slowly started to calm down but the rain continued to pour down. 

"Man how long is it gonna rain?"

"The thunders moving farther away so it should be over soon."  

"That's a relief." Huey nodded neither of them really minded the rain but it was making their sibling very upset and they minded that. Speaking of, Louie had almost completely calmed down by now but was still shaking and clinging to Donald who was running his hand up and down them, trying to help them calm down. 

Eventually the rain stopped and everyone inwardly sighed in relief. Webby went to turn the TV back on but Dewey shook his head and moved the remote, Louie hadn't completely calmed down yet and she started to tap her fingers on the couch boredly.

"Uh Webby maybe you should go see what your Granny's doing." 

"Oh yeah sure." She got up and walked out, it's not that they didn't want her there they were just afraid she might accidentally make things worse, she was almost headed there with the tapping. After a few mintues Louie slowly let go of Donald but didn't leave his lap and instead snuggled up.

"Tired?" Louie nodded and tried not to fall asleep.

"Feel better?" 

"Little bit." 

* * *

Dewey leaned his head onto Huey, he was glad Louie was okay but all that worrying was tiring not that he'd tell anyone he had an image to uphold after all. 

"Okay maybe you guys should get to bed." Donald said carefully getting up and nodding for the other two to follow which they did with no complaints. Huey may not have looked like it but he was tired too, he knew he couldn't show it cause Dewey was tired and Louie was asleep, they needed the attention right now and that was fine with him, he took being an older brother very seriously. He helped Dewey upstairs and made sure he didn't fall when he climbed up to his bed, he sighed tiredly as he climbed up to his bed and watched his Uncle Donald tuck Louie into bed. 

Donald climbed the ladder and kissed Dewey, who was too tired to make a face and instead smiled sleepily before dowsing off, goodnight. He climbed the ladder again to where Huey had already tucked himself in and tucked him in more with a smile.

"Thanks for the help."  Huey nodded and snuggled into his bed, Donald bent down and kissed him before climbing down, he quietly said goodnight then walked down. They were really exhausted he knew it wasn't just cause they were worried about Louie when one got tired, they all got tired. It made bedtime really easy sometimes. 

Louie tossed and turned into their bed with a sigh, looks like it was gonna be one of those nights. What could they do? They were positive their brothers were passed out and they wouldn't mind if they bugged them, well Dewey might, but they didn't want to, they bothered them enough earlier same with their Uncle Donald. Well that crossed out all the people they usually went to so it looked like they were stuck. 

It didn't seem like it earlier but they were still scared it was true they had fallen right asleep but all that crying had worn them out. Now they were awake and still pretty scared and they didn't know what to do. But they weren't scared of the thunderstorm no that had passed, they were scared of something different they knew how much trouble they caused their family, earlier was just an example, and they were scared they would realize how much trouble they were and stop caring about them. 

Why couldn't they just be normal?  


	9. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of a new school.  
> Set sometime in the series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want updates for my stories please follow my Tumblr: starshinewriter

When the triplets heard they were going to a new school they were ecstatic, until the day before they started.

"What if the people there are like the ones at our old school?" Louie asked their brothers as the three of them hung out on their bed, their brothers were on the foot of the bed, propped up and they were facing opposite them, sitting in a ball. 

Dewey made a fist and hit his hand, "No." Huey stated, "We cannot solve all of our problems with violence."

Dewey rolled his eyes, "Nerd." 

"He's right I don't want you guys to get in trouble cause of me." 

"It's worth it." 

"It is." Huey agreed, "But I doubt the people'll be like that, it's a private school they're supposed to be more open-minded." 

"Doesn't mean they will be."

"Well I guess we won't know until tomorrow there's no use worrying about it before then."

"Have you met me?" Both nodded.

"Well Uncle Donald managed to get us into all the same classes so that'll be fun." 

"How do you think he pulled that off?"

"He can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be." 

"You think we'll have to introduce ourselves."

"Probably."

"Great."

* * *

The next morning Louie was feeling all kinds of nervousness and their family knew it too. 

"Louie it'll be fine."

"Or I could just not go." 

Donald rolled his eyes, "Your brothers'll be there the whole time but if it gets to be too much, call me." Louie nodded, they felt a little better now that they had an out but they were still nervous, contrary to popular belief they did not like to be the center of attention and they knew they would be. Donald bent down and hugged his kids and if they noticed Louie hug back a little too tight they didn't say a thing.

"Good luck, I'll be here to pick you up at three." They all waved to each other as Donald drove off, the triplets then turned around and faced the building. 

"Here we go." They walked in and Huey looked at his schedule as Dewey started to mess with Louie to take their mind off of things, it worked. 

"I think our first period is that way." He pointed in a direction and the other two shrugged before walking in that direction, Huey looked up and jumped before following them.

As the first half day went on Louie was getting more and more anxious and just wanted nothing more than for this day to be over, everyone had been pretty accepting so far but there was always the off chance... They didn't want to risk it they were fully convinced sooner or later someone would say something and they'd hate to be that person. They were currently walking to lunch trailing behind their brothers who were talking about the previous class they of course weren't interested as was the case with most classes. 

They weren't really paying attention to anything so it was no surprise when they accidentally bumped into someone, they froze and their brothers paused their conversation to look at the two of them, the other person in question glared at Louie,

"Watch where you're going." Louie bit back a retort they knew would get them in trouble and shoved past him, he turned around and was about to retaliate when Dewey got in his face,

"Don't even think about it." He hissed, the guy rolled his eyes and walked off but Dewey could tell he scared him. He and Huey quickly caught up to Louie who was mumbling to themself angrily he caught the words 'stupid' and 'jerk' and threw an arm over them.

"Don't let'em get to you Lou he's just some jerk." 

Huey fell next to them, "I'm really proud of you for walking away."

They rolled their eyes, "Whatever." But they both knew they appreciated it, it was always an understood thing with Louie. They all walked into the lunch room and found somewhere to sit.

"This day's going pretty well so far." 

Dewey and Louie groaned, "Well now you've ruined it!" 

Huey raised an eyebrow, "Don't tell me you guys actually believe that superstition?" 

"How long have you known us?" 

"I'm sure I haven't ruined anything but I will apologize in advance." 

**RING!**

"Great back to class." 

"It feels like we just sat down." 

"Time flies when you're having fun!"

"None of this is fun!" Huey rolled his eyes and got up, Louie groaned and followed him, they really did not like school. The three of them walked to their next class and Huey nudged Louie when he noticed what subject it was.

"Look it's math, you love math!" That was true, Louie was innately good at math they were constantly helping their Uncle Donald with his taxes and balancing his checkbook but still, they felt like something was about to go wrong. 

* * *

Turns out they were right just not for them, halfway through the class Dewey threw his head on his desk with a groaned Huey and Louie may have loved math but he most certainly did not, he was already lost and it hadn't even been a day. Huey and Loue exchanged a worried look and Huey poked Dewey trying to urge him back up before the teacher noticed, the last thing they needed was trouble on the first day. 

"I am boring you Dewford?" He looked up as the rest of the class started to snicker he groaned again this time out of embarrassment and meekly answered,

"No ma'am." She nodded, turned back around, and started to lecture again he felt like sinking in his chair when he got sympathetic looks from his siblings. 

After the class ended Dewey was quick to bolt out and his siblings were quick to grab their stuff and follow him. 

"I'll tutor you if you need it." Huey offered when they caught up to him he shrugged and kept walking.

"Don't beat yourself up Dew it's just some dumb class." Dewey slightly smiled when he caught his words from earlier being offered back to him, Huey was about to interject but Louie nudged him and shook his head, now was not the time. 

The rest of school went along good which is fine with Louie who had been more than convinced this day would end in disaster but they blame the anxiety for that. They had gotten through their first day of a new school with little problems which was a win in their book. They were dreading tomorrow but they knew they could get through it and eventually, ~~hopefully,~~ it would get better. 

They walked out of the school with their brothers and waited for their Uncle to pick them up, their brothers were talking about something but they just weren't interested, that had been happening a lot lately which was weird because they always liked talking to their brothers, annoying as they could be. But they just found themselves not interested and they couldn't figure out why they even knew what they were talking about, math! They loved math! And they loved their brothers so why weren't they interested? It was like they'd rather keep to themself which was not like them at all. 

They watched their brothers interact with a small smile which turned into a frown as they thought about earlier, why had Dewey gotten worked up over a class? He'd never done that before he was usually so quick to brush stuff like that off so what made this time so different? 

Early made them realize they weren't the only one with problems and that was fine with them. 

Selfish as that made them. 


	10. House of the Lucky Gander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House of the Lucky Gander rewrite.

"I won!" Louie cheered as they won a game for the third time in a row, Donald walked off a few minutes ago but they figured he just needed a few to cool down. They were so wrapped up in their winning they didn't notice the way Liu Hai was eyeing them or Gladstones worried look.

"I mean you won I would never do something illegal." They would, but the casino workers didn't need to know that. 

"Let's go I'm with you." Donald said as he joined the others, Scrooge had just tricked Liu Hai into showing him and the kids the exit.

"Where's Louie?" Huey asked as they joined them.

"So we leave 'em here we'll swing by after ta pick 'em up." 

Huey and Dewey glared at Scrooge, "We're not leaving them behind." 

"They're having fun, right? They won't mind."

"Seriously?" 

"You obviously don't know Louie, c'mon Dewey let's go find them." Donald glared at Scrooge a most hateful glare and followed after the boys, Louie may not like him right now but leaving them behind was not an option and he hated that Scrooge thought it was. When they finally found Louie they weren't at all surprised to see them playing a slot machine, when they saw them they ran over and proudly showed off their winnings.

"Look I won!" Their brothers looked impressed but Donald did not.

"Give me the chips Louie." 

Louie handed them over, "I was going to anyway." 

"What are you gonna do with the chips, Uncle Donald? Are you going to cash them in?" Donald sighed and looked towards the cash-in counter but didn't say anything. When he noticed Gladstone he went over and started talking angrily to him Louie took that time to inform their brothers about Gladstone.

"I dunno he's acting kinda weird like jumpy and stuff."  

"That is weird..." 

"Maybe he's just tired?" 

"Maybe... but something doesn't seem right you know?"

"About this place? Absolutely, the gift shop moved like 3 times when we were trying to find a way out."  

"Weird, where are Scrooge and Webby?" Dewey and Huey shared a look, "What?" 

"Louie..."

"They wanted to leave me here didn't they?" 

"Yeah." 

"Of course they did!" Their brothers jumped back in shock, "Why wouldn't they? It's not like I'm family or anything!" They started to cry and their brothers shared another glance, they were trying so hard to not be mad at Scrooge and Webby but Louie was crying and that was not okay in their books. 

"Hey wanna come check out this awesome buffet?" Louie meekly nodded, drying their eyes. Their brothers threw an arm around them and the three of them walked off. 

* * *

A little while later Donald had come to pull them away from the buffet they groaned but went with him.

"We should try to find a way out." 

"You had a way out earlier." Louie replied putting their hood over their head, their brothers sighed seems like they weren't over it. 

"No one gets left behind."

"But I was horrible to you." 

Donald bent down, "No one gets left behind." He repeated.

Louie hugged him, "M'm sorry. I'll never be that mean again." 

He hugged them back, "I know, it's okay." They pulled apart and Donald started looking around when he noticed Scrooge and Webby, good so they hadn't left Louie was upset enough. He thought they just wanted to leave so he was surprised when they suddenly spoke up,

"Maybe we shouldn't leave yet Uncle Gladstone was acting weird earlier, what if he really is in trouble?" 

"Come to think of it," Huey said, "Have we seen him since earlier?" The rest shook their heads, that really was weird he had been hanging around them all day. Donald didn't really like Gladstone but if he really was in trouble, he'd want to help, family helps family after all.

Scrooge then noticed them and walked over, "Ready ta go then?" Dewey and Huey glared at him and Louie shrunk behind them.

"We're staying to help Gladstone." Donald replied simply Scrooge looked at him shocked but noticed the look on his face and nodded. 

"Ugh, there's that creepy guy again." Dewey suddenly said and everyone turned to see Liu Hai watching them, Donald got a scared look on his face and started to lead his family away.

"Let's go look for Gladstone." The triplets looked at him confused but nodded they did not want to be around that toad, something just wasn't right about him. When they found him it was something they were not expecting it seems he had gotten worse in the time after the triplets left but when he saw them he attempted to act casual. 

"Hey fam what's up?"

"We know you're in trouble Gladstone." 

He looked at them panicked, "How did you know that?"

"I told them." Louie said cheekily and Gladstone smiled and patted their head. 

"What can we do to help?" 

Gladstone looked around before quietly telling them, "I would say we could leave but that's not an option." The others looked at him confused, "I'm sort of a prisoner here."

Donald ran a hand down his face, "Of course you are." 

"So anyone got a plan?"

* * *

"This is a stupid plan!" Huey yelled as they all walked towards the exit, it had taken a while but they found it again.

"No it is not it's perfect!"

"Perfectly stupid!" 

"Boys." 

"Sorry Uncle Donald." Louie looked at their brothers, even in facing certain doom they still had to bicker, brothers. They felt like they were being watched and turned around before noticing who it was and scooting closer to Donald, that guy was a creep! And they did not like the way he was looking at them. Donald noticed and wrapped an arm around Louie before turning back and glaring at Liu Hai, he would not be getting his nibling anytime soon, not if he could help it. 

"So what exactly are we supposed to do just walk out?" 

"No I told you, we get _him_ to throw _us_ out luck demon right? We have the unluckiest guy right here!" He gestured to Donald who looked annoyed but if bad luck was what would get his family out of here, then this place would be the unluckiest place ever.

"But how does that get Uncle Gladstone out of here?"

"We threaten to come back until he lets him go a-duh." Gladstone watched this with a smile, he had forgotten what family could be like, he kinda missed it he just hoped this plan would work, not for his sake but Louie's. Donald got a determined look on his face and started to play different games while the triplets cheered him on they knew if they didn't he would eventually give up in frustration but he would do anything for them.

Eventually Liu Hai had enough and kicked them all out, Gladstone included he didn't want to take any chances. Everyone cheered as the casino disappeared and the triplets hugged Donald.

"Uncle Donald that was amazing!" 

"Yeah you panicked him so much he looked like he was about to wet himself!" 

"It was so cool how you managed to turn your bad luck into something good!" 

"Yeah," Gladstone said, "It was pretty cool thanks Don." Donald nodded at him and started to corral the triplets to the plane.

"And thanks to you to Louie, I'd probably still be stuck in there if it weren't for you." Louie beamed up at him and their brothers playfully teased them.

"Well all-in-all it was a successful mission." Huey and Dewey glared at Webby and she faltered, "Or not." 

"Man," Louie said as they headed for the plane. "Can you guys believe I was almost trapped in there?" 

Donald looked at him, "You knew the whole time!"

Louie nodded, "Pretty much yeah." Donald just shook his head and followed after the kids but suddenly turned around.

"Are you coming?" Gladstone looked at him surprised, he thought he didn't want him around. 

"Maybe I was too quick to jump to an assumption, you told us what was going on and you thanked us, maybe you're not that bad." Donald offered him a smile and he shakily returned it. Donald suddenly looked at the window and three heads ducked down, he rolled his eyes and shook his head with a fond expression. 

"So are you coming?" Gladstone nodded and they both walked to the plane where they were immediately ambushed by the triplets, Donald entertained them for a few seconds before pushing them into their seats as Launchpad took off. 

Huey and Dewey started a conversation but Louie didn't partake, they noticed Webby looking at them and sighed they still couldn't believe Scrooge and Webby wanted to leave them but they can't say they were surprised, it was just how it was it seemed. 

That didn't mean they had to like it.  


	11. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louie questions more things about themself.  
> Set sometime in the series.

Louie was bored one day so they do what anyone would when they're bored, think about themself granted they are ten and aren't supposed to know everything about themself but they knew they were non-binary so what else could they figure out? They could think about their anxiety or the ever-present growing worry that their family would eventually stop caring about them but they were in a good mood and didn't wanna ruin it. 

They sighed and lay further down on their bed, eventually they decided to scroll through the internet on their phone, maybe today wasn't an introspective day and just a lazy one. They scrolled for a while before they saw a page that caught their eye 'Non-binary Romantic Orientations', maybe it was an introspective day after all. They had been wondering about their orientation for a while now maybe this website would have some answers.

"Hey Lou what are you doing?" Louie jumped as Dewey came into the room he gave them a sheepish look before joining them on their bed facing opposite of them. 

"Just scrolling. You?" 

"Uncle Scrooge took us to the aquarium."

"Didn't invite me I see." 

Dewey looked at them, "Lou-"

"It's fine, did you have fun?"

"Would've been funner if you were there." He muttered and Louie smiled at him.

"More fun."

Dewey threw a pillow at them, "Shut up." They threw it back and they both laughed. They settled into silence as Dewey grabbed a comic and Louie went back to scrolling, they saw a term that caught their eye and hummed,

_'Quadrisian- Being romantically attracted to people who identify as 'male' inclusively.'_

That did sound like them they noticed most guys in their school talking about girls they liked but they weren't interested and found themself thinking about said guys more often than not. They didn't know any other non-binary people but from what the found on the internet, they didn't find themself attracted to them either, so just guys, cool.

Unlike the last time they came to a life-changing realization they weren't afraid to tell their family and they knew exactly who they wanted to tell first. 

"Do you know where Huey is?" 

Dewey briefly looked up, "Nerp." They sighed and texted him, they knew this could probably wait but they wanted to say something immediately. A few seconds later Huey walked in and joined them on the bed giving Louie a questioning look.

"So I need to tell you guys something." Huey nudged Dewey and he put down his comic. 

"What's up?" 

"I like guys." 

"Ooo what brought this on?" Dewey teased, "Does Louie have a crush?" 

Louie sputtered, "Wha, no! I just started really thinking about it."

"Well," Huey started, "This works out perfectly, we can beat up a guy if he hurts you." 

"Feel free to, after I get done with him of course." Louie said with a smirk, they would not get taken advantage of. 

"Deal." 

"So there's really no guy? Boooring!" 

"I'm sorry my life isn't exciting enough for you." 

"Apology accepted." Louie rolled their eyes and hit Dewey with a pillow.

"Ow! Stop that!" 

"You did it the first time!" Huey quickly broke the fight,

"We missed you at the aquarium." Dewey gives Louie a pointed look and they looked down,

"I would've gone if I had known about it." 

Huey looked confused, "We thought you did know." Louie shook their head and sighed, they couldn't understand why but they knew Scrooge didn't particularly care for them preferring their brothers, not that they blamed him they were great. But it still hurt. 

"We could go yell at him if you want."

"No."

"We could tell Uncle Donald and he could yell at him." 

Louie looked up, "Really guys it's fine." 

"Lie."

"Stop doing that!" 

"Louie..." 

"Stop!" Louie buried themself in their lap and their brothers looked at them shocked and worried, "I hate how you guys can read me so easily just stop it already!" 

"Sorry sib, that's what comes with being a triplet." Huey scooted up and wrapped an arm around them, Dewey also scooted and sat on the other side of them. 

"I wish you would tell us what's been going on with you Louie."

"Why?" They croaked out revealing they had at some point started to cry.  

"Because we care about you." Huey and Dewey looked over Louie and shared a silent conversation. 

'Should I go get Uncle Donald?' Huey shook his head,

'No we should both be here right now.' 

"I'm sorry." 

"Why are you sorry?" 

"Cause," Louie looked up, "You guys are stuck in here comforting me instead of doing something else, something you want to be doing." 

"We are not stuck in here! There is nowhere else we'd rather be. You are our baby sibling, our best friend if you're not happy we're not happy!" Louie looked at the both of them shocked and hugged them, they both hugged him back but not before exchanging looks, something was seriously wrong with Louie and they were gonna find out what. 

* * *

They stayed like that for a while, turned out they all needed it and eventually Louie pulled away and sat back on the bed, their brothers joining them on either side.

"I think I wanna tell the others, that I like guys it's not a big deal but I feel like they should know you know?" 

"It's not, so why were you in such a rush to tell us?" 

"We tell each other everything."

"Yeah, we do." There was a hidden meaning behind those words and they all knew it. 

"Do they really deserve to know?" Dewey cut in bitterly which made the other two look at him, 

"What do you mean?"

"Well Uncle Donald does but Scrooge and Webby, they never really make a effort to get to know you so why should they get to know?" 

"Maybe..." 

"It's your life," Huey cut in, "If you wanna tell them, tell them if not that's fine too." 

"I'll think about it but I do wanna tell Uncle Donald but just in a casual conversation, not make a big deal over it." 

"Sounds good." 

So they liked guys, that was cool, they couldn't wait to see what else they found out about themself and what their brothers found out about themselves they could only hope they would trust them as much as they trusted them. Maybe one day they would tell them all that's been going on, maybe they would even understand and maybe that day would be someday soon but there was still that doubt lingering in the back of their mind. 

What if they're just pretending? 

Could they handle that? 


	12. Fighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louie hates when their brothers fight.  
> Set sometime in the series.

The day started out normal, surprisingly enough it does not, however, stay that way. 

It started out simple enough with the triplets headed to school but it ends with two of them fighting now keep in mind this isn't normal sibling bickering, it's a full on fight and Louie hates it. It may be the anxiety but they doubt it, they've always felt this way it's why they've always preferred to talk things out but their brothers are stubborn so the few fights they have are bad and neither back down.  

It was so bad Louie had to sit between them on the ride home, Donald shared a glance with Louie and they both knew they were just waiting for this to blow up. It does but not in the car which Louie is thankful for, they knew they wouldn't be able to handle it. It started with Dewey saying something snarky and ended with doors slamming and Louie trying not to cry, but as Donald lead them into the den, it didn't last and by the time they got on the couch, they were full on bawling. 

Donald sighed and patted them on the back as he waited for them to calm down he knew the fighting could go on for a while if no one intervened but he also had no idea what happened. That's where he relies on Louie, they hardly ever fight, due to them not liking to, and they always seem to know what's up, especially with their family. 

"Ok so what happened?" He asked when they fully calmed down,

"We were in science and Huey answered this really hard question correctly and someone called him a nerd I jumped to his defense but... Dewey didn't and it really upset him." Donald nodded he could understand why Huey was upset, that was always a sore spot for him and to not have one of his siblings defend him must've really hurt. 

"So what set Dewey off?" 

"Huey said something about him not being a good brother, I tried to get them to stop but they wouldn't listen!"

Oof, that was serious. 

Even when they were little the fights Huey and Dewey got into could be easily broken up when Louie was around, one thing those two could always agree on was that they couldn't be hurt in any way. Seems this fight was bad enough to make them forget that. With that in mind, Donald got up which made Louie look at him. 

"Well I think enough times passed, why don't you go talk to Huey?" Louie nodded and got up, they knew exactly were Huey was. 

When they arrived they knocked on the door, "Huey?" 

The door opened and Huey gave them a sad smile, "Hey Louie you okay?"

"Are you?" They shot back and Huey let out a little laugh, "No, not really." 

"Wanna talk about it?" Huey opened the door more and they both walked in and sat on Louie's bed it was quiet for a few seconds as Huey tried to get his thoughts together and Louie waited patiently. 

"He didn't defend me, my own brother it just really sucked you know?" 

"I know."  

* * *

Dinner was unusually silent as Huey and Dewey clearly still didn't want to talk to each other and no one wanted to say something to make them start fighting. Well until,

"Can someone pass the bread?" Webby asked before realizing her mistake and freezing,

"I don't know, I may be too much of a nerd to do something like that and I'd hate to inconvenience anyone." 

"I never said you inconvenienced me!"

"It sure felt like it!"

"Boys enough! Go to your room!" They both got out of their chairs and stormed off as everyone looked on worried.  

"They're gonna get over this, right Uncle Donald?" Louie said smally trying not to cry again. 

Donald was quick to reassure them, "Yes Louie they're going to make up soon, promise." Louie nodded and started picking at the rest of their food, the rest of dinner was quiet. 

As was the evening. 

Louie was debating whether or not to go into their room not knowing if both of their brothers were in there before deciding to just go in and get it over with, they were surprised to see only Dewey in there seems they were both smart enough to not be in the same room right now. Dewey looked up when he heard the door open and sighed in relief when he saw it was just Louie. 

"Hey Lou." He said quietly Louie nodded in response and started to get ready for bed, Dewey sighed, it looked like Louie was giving him the silent treatment which sucked cause they were one of his favorite people to talk to. 

"You're mad at me." 

"No, but you guys know I hate it when you fight." 

"Yeah look it's just a stupid fight-"

Louie slammed their hand down, "It's not just a stupid fight! You really upset him!" 

"You said you weren't mad!" 

"Well now I am."

"Louie..."

"Goodnight!" They got into their bed and faced away from him. Dewey sighed and turned back in his chair, things would be better in the morning. 

They weren't.

It was Saturday which meant the triplets got to sleep in which was a good thing but it also meant there was nothing to distract them from the fight which was a bad thing. By midday, Huey and Dewey had started yelling at each other three times and had to be separated four, it had gotten to the point where they couldn't even be in the same room. Louie and Webby had tried talking to them, but they refused to listen. Webby paced around the den and Louie was on their phone trying to distract themself.

"Your brothers are idiots."

Louie glared at her, "Hey!" 

"What? They are. If they would just talk this would be over."

"That doesn't mean you can call them idiots!"

"But they are!" 

Louie looked back down at their phone and mumbled, "Why am I even talking to you? It's not like you like me." 

Webby turned to them, "What? Of course I do!" 

Louie snorted, "Yeah okay, and lay off of them they are not idiots." 

"Louie I do like you." 

"I don't care if you do or not, not really but don't be mean to my brothers." 

Webby raised her hands, "Fine, but they do need to talk... Why do you think I don't like you?" 

"You wanted to leave me in Macaw!" 

Webby looked down, "I didn't think you would mind, you were having fun."

"Well I did." They shook their head, "Whatever, I have other things to worry about." They got up and left trying to think of a plan to get their brothers to make up. 

* * *

A plan didn't come to them not until around dinner time, well it wasn't really a plan more like an idea but they were sure it would work. When they saw them pass by each other without saying anything they started to cry. Huey and Dewey looked at each other and sighed before they started to comfort them.

"Louie's always been really smart, it took them two seconds to figure out they could get anyone's attention with their crying." Donald said as he and Scrooge watched from the sidelines, both had rushed in when they heard the crying. Scrooge got a thoughtful look but didn't say anything. 

When they had calmed Louie down they had looked at each other and decided, this has gone on long enough. 

"I'm sorry I said you weren't a good brother, you just really hurt me when you didn't say anything."

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything but you are a nerd," Huey sucked in a breath and Louie gave Dewey a warning glance, "But why is that a bad thing? So you like school more than most people and are crazy smart what exactly makes that a bad thing?" 

Huey looked at him, "You're right I guess I never thought about it like that." 

"Well you should," Louie said, "We wouldn't want you any other way." 

"Your opinions are the only ones that will ever matter to me. Thanks guys." He hugged them both and Louie smiled glad they were talking again when they pulled away they both looked at Louie,

"Sorry for fighting, you okay now?" They smiled at the both of them and nodded, 

"Yeah, I'm okay." 

"Dinner!" 

They all looked at each other, "Race you!" 

Dinner was normal again much to everyone's relief but as everyone talked Louie thought, they had wanted to leave them there because they looked like they were having fun? They didn't know they would be upset over it? They had lived here how long now? And they still didn't know them but they guess they should've expected that,

They weren't worth getting to know. 


	13. Telling Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Telling Gladstone.  
> Set sometime in the series.

"Can you believe Uncle Gladstone invited us on his yacht?!" Dewey said from the back seat where he was cramped with his siblings and Webby. Donald was currently driving them to the dock so they could go see Gladstone's yacht it took a lot of convincing but he finally gave in. 

"Ae cannae believe we're actually goin'!" Scrooge said from the passenger seat, grumpily. 

"It's a yacht! How could we not go?!" Louie said excitedly leaning forward in their seat but got thrown back when Donald hit a bump and was quickly steadied by Dewey. 

"Do you think there's a water slide?" Dewey questioned Huey who shrugged,

"Possibly." The other kids cheered and Donald looked back at them,

"We need to set up some ground rules," They groaned,

"Ground rules? But we're always good!" Donald glared at Dewey who gave him a smile.

"No jumping off the yacht, no breaking anything, no conning anyone," He directed at Louie who gave him a lazy thumbs up, "No pestering the workers, no running, no tricks, and _no trouble_." 

"So basically no fun." 

"Yes." The triplets groaned and Webby looked at them, 

"Oh come on guys! Yacht!" They looked at each other and started chanting, 

"Yacht! Yacht! Yacht!" Donald sighed and tried his best to block them out. 

When they finally got there the kids jumped out of the car and started to run.

"I said no running!" Donald said going after them. Scrooge sighed and went to catch up, this would be a long day. When he caught up to everyone he saw the triplets trying to convince Donald that they didn't need lifejackets while Webby looked around in wonder. He had to admit it was a pretty impressive, not that he'd ever tell Gladstone that. 

"Kids! D-money! Uncle Scrooge!" Gladstone said as he walked over the kids immediately hounded him with questions but Donald made them stop. 

"Gladstone, good to see you again." He said stiffly, they weren't exactly buddy-buddy but things were improving. 

"So this is my yacht, feel free to look around." The kids quickly took off and Scrooge and Donald looked at each other, this really would be a long day.

"Chocolate fountain!" Webby cheered as they entered the buffet room and tore towards it, the triplets shared a look and shrugged, they couldn't be held responsible for her actions. 

"So I was thinking of telling Gladstone, might as well right?" Huey and Dewey looked at them,

"If you think it's best, yeah." 

"I think so, something tells me we're gonna be seeing a lot more of him." Their brothers shrugged, they had an unusual knack for that stuff but they weren't surprised they wanted to tell him, they had always been really close. 

"Do you want us there when you do it?" 

Louie thought for a few seconds, "Nah I gotta start doing stuff on my own, you know?"

"If you say so." 

* * *

A little while later Louie separated themself from their brothers it felt weird but it had to be done. They were nervous, this wasn't their first time doing this alone but it always made them nervous. When they found Gladstone he was talking to one of the workers about something but stopped when he spotted Louie.

"Hey green bean what's up?" 

"I need to talk to you." Louie replied without looking at him which made him worried. 

"Ok what about?" Louie started to panic a little bit, maybe their brothers should've come. As if reading their mind two figures peered out from behind a wall and give them a thumbs up which made them smile and turn back to their Uncle. 

"I'm non-binary. Just thought you should know."

Gladstone blinked, "Oh, cool, thanks for telling me kid." 

"Wow, no one is reacting the way I thought they would."

"Is that a bad thing?" Louie shrugged and Gladstone led them to the chairs where they both sat down.

"Louie you are who you are, there's nothing wrong with that and if anyone thinks so, they're wrong." 

Louie started tearing up and before Gladstone could say anything they jumped into his arms, "Thank you." 

He hugged them back, "No problem, green bean." 

"Can we come out now?" A voice suddenly interrupted followed by a hit and an "OW!" 

Louie pulled away from the hug, "You guys are good." They both ran over and sat next to Louie.

"Sooo how'd it go?" Louie lightly hit him and they started to playfully fight. Huey watched them fondly then turned to Gladstone, 

"Thank you, for being okay with them."

"Of course, you guys are my niblings? Yeah niblings, I'm just glad they told me." Huey smiled and went to separate his siblings. Dewey noticed Donald walking near them and waved him over,

"Uncle Donald!" He looked at them and made his way over, 

"What's going on?" 

"Just talking."  

Donald raised an eyebrow, "About what?" 

"I told him I'm non-binary." 

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he was really cool about it." Louie got up and hugged Donald,

'Thank you' he mouthed to Gladstone who nodded. Once he let go of Louie the other two stood up and the three of them took off.

"No running!" They laughed as they rounded the corner and ended up back at the front of the boat. 

"You guys wanna go stand on the rail?" Huey and Louie shrugged and they made their way there and carefully climbed it. 

* * *

"Do you think Scrooge and Webby will ever like me?" 

"That came out nowhere." 

"I know I just, it sucks having someone not like you even if they have a good reason."

"What reason could possibly be good enough?" 

"I dunno I get in the way and make things difficult." 

"I could argue that for all of us." 

"It's not the same!"

"Why?" Huey said calmly, which made them stop and think, 'why was it different?', they didn't have an answer they just knew it was. 

"It just is." They insisted looking down.

"If they don't like you that's on them, you're great." Dewey said watching them, they shrugged and continued to stare at the water. 

"Well, we'll just have to keep telling you that til you believe it." They smiled slightly they really did have the best brothers, too bad they didn't deserve them. 

"So, see any cute guys lately?" Dewey teased and Louie lightly shoved him,

"I wish." Their brothers smirked,

"Don't worry you'll find your prince charming one day."

Louie made a face, "Ew. I prefer someone more real."

"Oo Louie has a type!" 

Louie hit him, "Shut up!" They continued to talk and bicker until it was time to go and on the drive home Louie started to think, again. They didn't deserve their brothers, they knew they didn't but they were continuously by their side and they couldn't figure out why they didn't have to be but they were. But why?

It's not like they were anything special. 


	14. First Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louie gets their first crush.  
> Set sometime in the series.

It was official, Louie hated school. Yes even in fancy private school they found themself completely and utterly, bored. They looked to their side to see Huey diligently taking notes and rolled their eyes. They turned to their other side and saw Dewey looking just as bored as they were, they met eyes and smiled at each other before Dewey rolled his eyes and Louie chuckled, lunch could not come soon enough. 

They looked forward and rested their head on their arm with a sigh when they felt eyes on them. They subtly looked at Dewey again and saw him struggling to stay awake and got confused, if it wasn't Dewey who could it be? They looked around and locked eyes with Andrew Rivers, a latino duck whose family was almost as rich as Scrooge, who smirked when he caught their eye. They swiftly turned back around with a beet red face and tried to ignore their brothers questioning stares. 

They really hated school. 

Louie knew they were done for as soon as the bell ringed and hurried out of the room before their brothers could start questioning them. But as they got to their locker they heard footsteps behind them and realized it was no use, they would get it out of them eventually. So with their fate decided they turned to face them, 

"What was that about?" 

"Heck if I know, I felt someone's eyes on me and when I turned around he was just staring at me." Louie started to blush, 

"Ooo Louie's got a crush." 

"I do not!"

"Then why are you blushing?" 

"I'm not- you are- shut up!"

"Leave them alone Dewey, it's cute." Huey said with a smirk.

Louie threw their head in their locker, "I hate you both." Both snickered and Huey patted them on the back before they both went to lunch. Louie picked their head up with a sigh and started to look for their lunch, which they had haphazardly thrown in there when they were running late for first period. 

"Hey." They banged their head on the top of the locker in surprise and turned to glare at the offender, Andrew Rivers of course.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, just want to say hi."

"Hi." Louie spat out as they rubbed their head and turned back to their locker.

"I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me during lunch?"

"Nope." They said grabbing their lunch and slamming their locker shut, "Already have seating arrangements." 

"Maybe some other time then." 

"Maybe." They walked off and went to the table Dewey was waving at them from. They sat down and opened their bag absentmindedly giving their apple to Huey in exchange for his orange. 

"What took you so long?" 

"Andrew came over and talked to me, he wanted to sit with me today."

"And you blew him off for us? Aww, Louie!" Dewey said slinging an arm over them and they shoved him away annoyed.

"Don't make me regret my decision."

"Too late!" His siblings rolled their eyes and Huey made a face when he pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich and gave it to Dewey.

Dewey gave Huey his turkey sandwich,  "Beakly must've been rushed this morning." 

"We did run late." 

"It's not my fault my alarm got turned off!"

"Then whose is it, Hubert?" 

"Yours probably." Dewey looked at him offended which made the other two bust out laughing, he soon joined them.  

* * *

Math class was probably the only class that didn't bore Louie to death they were just too good at it to ever be bored. The same couldn't be said for their brother who looked like he was two seconds from falling asleep. Louie leaned over and poked him with their pencil, he glared at them and started to do the worksheet. Louie looked down at their own sheet and saw that they were almost done they nodded with a smile and went back to work when they were poked. They glared at Dewey who they thought was the offender but he just shrugged so they turned around and saw the person holding out a paper for them. They took in and looked at the teacher before opening it, 

'Hey.' It said making Louie confused, who just wrote 'hey'? but then they noticed more writing,

'I saw you looking at me earlier.' They got mad and wrote a reply while fighting the blush slowly appearing on their face,

'You were looking at me first!' They turned around again and handed it to the person who took it with a sigh and sent it back. They went back to work and a few seconds later they got another tap. They turned around annoyed, took the paper with a huff, and stuffed it in their pocket. When they finished their paper they turned to see how Dewey was doing and sighed when they saw him angrily erasing his paper. 

"Need some help?" 

He turned to them, "Please!" The rest of class went on like that, with Dewey struggling and Louie helping in any way they could, when the bell rang Dewey let out a sigh of relief and practically ran out the door while his siblings took their time and handed in their papers. 

They quickly caught up to him, "This is so stupid what'd we need math for anyway?"

"Weeeelll...."

"Never mind, what's that note say Lou?" They shrugged and opened it as their brothers looked over their shoulders. 

'I couldn't help it you're just so stunning.'

Louie blushed, "Help I'm gay." Their brothers rolled their eyes and the three of them walked to their final class, Louie discreetly pocketing the note.

As class went on Louie found it harder than normal to focus, was this what having a crush was like? They weren't too sure they liked it, getting all flustered and shy, that wasn't them and they were not about to let some guy change that.

Even if he was cute. 

That didn't mean they had to act like a complete idiot in front of him and they wouldn't not if they had anything to same about it. They liked to think they did, it was their body after all and they had more control over it than people thought. They weren't like Dewey, impulsively rushing into every situation without a second thought, they were a con-artist. they always knew just what to say and when to say it. No crush was gonna change that. 

They won't let it. 

After class was over the triplets walked to their lockers and got ready to go home. 

"Oh man, English class was brutal."

"That was science." 

"So that's why there were test tubes! That was bugging me the whole class." 

Huey rolled his eyes and closed his locker, "Please tell me you knew what class it was, Louie."

"Art, right?" Louie said with a smirk, Huey made a 'tcch' noise and lightly shoved them. 

"Oh no wait it was social studies."

Huey looked at them and shook his head, "It's like you're trying to annoy me."

"That was the plan yes." They said closing their locker and turned to Dewey, "Hurry up Uncle Donald's probably already out there." 

"Give me a second I have to find my math textbook so I can finish that stupid worksheet later."

"If you would organize your locker." 

"You organize your locker." 

"I have." Huey said smugly, Louie rolled their eyes and peered into Dewey's locker before reaching in. 

"One math textbook." They said handing it to him he took it with an astonished look on his face.

"Louie you are a god."

"I know." 

* * *

The three of them got into Donald's car as he tried to not get mad at the car in front of him. He sighed in relief when they moved and took off. 

"How were you kids day?" 

"Louie's got a boyfriend!"

"I do not!"

Donald rolled his eyes, "So you got your first crush huh? Trust me it's all downhill from there."

"I don't like it, it makes me act all weird." 

"They'll do that, the important thing to remember is that it doesn't have to change you, it shouldn't change you. You deal with a crush however you wanna deal with it, so long as no one gets hurt, and eventually you'll realize that's it not as big a deal as it seems, most people have a first crush, it's natural." 

Louie smiled a bit, "Thanks Uncle Donald. So who was your first crush?" Their brothers lean slightly forward at that as Donald struggled to think of an answer.

"That's not important." 

"Suuurreee," Dewey said then turned to his siblings, "So which one of you is gonna help me with the math worksheet?" 

"Huey's turn." 

"That's fine it's honestly not that hard you just have to know the formulas." 

"That's the problem..." Huey and Dewey continued to talk but Louie drowned them out. Uncle Donald was right, they shouldn't change themself just for a crush if they don't wanna act stupid in front of a guy cause they like him, they won't, it may not be as simple as that but they like to think it is, and getting a crush isn't the end of the world, it's just part of life.

Now if they could only figure out why he liked them. 

Cause they knew there wasn't much to like. 


	15. Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Formal attire shopping.  
> Set sometime in the series.

"Man I hate shopping!" Louie complained as they stood in a fancy clothing store, everyone was there to pick out clothes to wear to an upcoming event, their brothers nodded in agreement but Webby looked around excitedly and ran off somewhere leaving the triplets confused. 

"Must be a girl thing."

"Or a Webby thing." They all shrugged and walked over to the suits, Huey and Dewey were quick to find ones they liked but Louie eyed them distastefully. They did not like suits. They looked around the store and saw Webby wildly looking through the dresses they smiled but quickly shook their head, no way they could wear a dress, but...

They sighed and walked over there looking at the dresses with wonder.

"You should pick one out." Louie jumped and looked at Webby who was smiling at them and holding a few dresses.

"I don't know..."

"Your choice, but if you really want to who's stopping you?" Louie looked at the dresses again and hesitantly picked one out, it was simple enough an orange spaghetti strapped long dress that was flowy and had a waistband that was also orange, they shrugged and put in on their arm.

"Is that all your gonna get?"

"I need more?" They whispered uncertainly.

"I have so much to teach you!" 

After Louie picked out a few more dresses they went to try them on with Webby, they tried the orange one on first and looked at themself in the mirror with a grin, this felt right.  When they walked out of the dressing room they saw their brothers and froze. 

"... That's not your color." 

"I told you!" Webby said walking out of her own dressing room carrying the dresses she tried on, "Have you guys found suits yet?" They both nodded,

"Uncle Scrooge's paying for them. Uncle Donald's still trying some on, says none of 'fit right'." Dewey rolled his eyes and Huey glanced at Louie.

"You have any more to try on?" They nodded, "Can we see?" They nodded again and went back into their dressing room.

"I'm gonna go find some more dresses, wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" They both called as she walked off and sat in some chairs, they would probably be here awhile. 

Sometime while Webby and Louie were trying on dresses Donald and Scrooge had come over and now they were all waiting for them to finish. 

"I don't know about this one guys it feels kinda..." Louie trailed off as they noticed the two new additions to the group and froze again, their brothers looked backwards worriedly but Donald just smiled,

"You look great." Louie also smiled but then it turned into a frown.

"Yeah, I don't know about this one it feels,... weird?" 

Webby turned to them and looked at the dress, "That's cause its velvet it's supposed to feel like that."

"Well I do not like it, I'm picking something else!" Louie dramatically went back into their dressing room as their brothers and Webby laughed. After Webby went back into her room Donald turned to Scrooge and pulled him away so Louie couldn't hear them, 

"If you don't like the fact their wearing a dress you better keep it to yourself." 

"It's not tha' ae dinnae like it, it's just a little weird is all." 

"How is it any different than Webby wearing a dress?" Scrooge went silent at that, he really didn't know.

"They're happy. That's all that matters." He went back to the boys who were watching the conversation and rubbed their heads.

"How long have you been sitting here?"

"About twenty minutes." 

"I've never seen Louie like this," Dewey said quietly, "They look, overjoyed." 

Huey turned to him, "What a pleasant word." 

Dewey snorted, "Nerd." He said teasingly. Huey just rolled his eyes with a smile, he was finding he really didn't mind being called that by his siblings. 

* * *

Louie sighed as they looked at the dresses again, no matter what they just couldn't seem to find one they liked. They knew Webby was in the same boat so they didn't feel too bad but they also knew their brothers were getting bored, no matter how many times they assured them otherwise. And they really did wanna find a dress eventually but this was their first time doing this and they had no idea what to look for. They thought about asking Webby for advice but she was clearly having her own problems so they just continued to look around. 

Dewey sighed as he noticed his phone battery go down again, if they were here much longer it was gonna die but he didn't wanna tell anyone that, Louie was having fun and they looked a lot happier than they had been lately and in his mind a dead phone was worth that. He looked at Huey who was reading his junior woodchuck guidebook for the thousandth time even though it looked like the first. 

"Do you have your phone charger?" Huey snapped out of his reading and looked at Dewey who was shaking his almost dead phone and gave him an apologetic look.

"No sorry I didn't think we'd be here that long." 

"That's cool just thought I'd ask, I'm gonna go see if Louie needs help." He nodded and went back to his book as Dewey got up and left. 

Dewey looked around the dress section and saw Webby frantically going through a clothes rack and quickly walked the other way, he was not getting involved in that. He perked up when he saw Louie and made his way over to them.

"Hey Lou!" They turned around and smiled at him.

"Hey. What's up?" 

"Just thought I'd come see if you needed help."

"Your phone's almost dead isn't it?" 

"No..." 

They rolled their eyes, "Well it just so happens I do need help, I can't find anything I like. I'd ask Webby but..." They both looked over at her sitting in a pile of dresses and laughed, only Webby.

"Well I don't know a lot about dresses but I do know you so what are you thinking?" 

"I don't know something fancy but not to fancy, like something I don't have to worry too much about if I accidentally tear it."

"So fancy casual?"

Louie grabbed him, "Yes! You're a genius!" 

He bowed, "Thank you, I try." Louie laughed and started looking at dresses again.

"Sorry we've been here so long, you must be bored out of your mind."

"It's fine."

"Dewey-"

"Louie it's fine take all day if you want we're in no rush and," He paused, "You look really happy right now."

"I am." 

Dewey patted them, "Then that's all I care about." Louie smiled but they were still turned towards the dresses so Dewey didn't see it, but he didn't have to see it to know it was there. 

Louie groaned, "Why is this so hard? I almost wish I liked suits." Dewey shrugged but didn't say anything, he wasn't exactly an expert at this stuff. 

"Hey do you know if Scrooge is cool with this?" They asked absentmindely as they rummaged through the dresses, they didn't particularly care but someone had to pay for it. 

"I wouldn't say he isn't cool with it he just thinks it weird."

"Why?"

"I don't think even he knows that." Louie nodded but didn't say anything too distracted by choosing a dress to have a full conversation. Dewey also started looking at the dresses trying to find something he thought Louie would like but came up short, his sibling was always picky. He knew they would find something eventually and didn't mind waiting. 

"I swear I'm about to give up, nothing Dewey I am finding nothing!" 

"Hey don't give up you'll find something eventually."

"When is eventually?" Dewey shrugged and Louie groaned again throwing his head into the dress before him. 

* * *

"How long have we been here?" 

"Since you asked, five minutes ago, an hour and ten." Dewey groaned and shoved his head into Huey's shoulder, after trying and failing to help Louie find a dress he went to sit with the rest of his family. By now Webby was deciding between two dresses but he had no idea what Louie was doing which worried him a little bit but he was starting to get to bored to care. He was starting to hope they wouldn't take his offer of being here all day, he wasn't sure he could handle it. 

Huey pushed Dewey's head of off his shoulder and went back to writing in his guidebook, he felt sorry for Dewey he really did but he should have suspected they'd be here a while even when it was just Webby looking for a dress. He briefly wondered how Louie was doing but was confident they would find something even if it took a while. He knew that this was their first time shopping for a dress and wanted to be perfect, not that he could blame them, so he was a little more patient than Dewey. Too bad the same couldn't be said for Scrooge.

Scrooge was currently tapping his foot impatiently, he had other things to do today and the kids were taking forever. He knew Webby was trying on her final dresses but he had no idea what Louie was up to, he also had no idea why they would wanna wear a dress but he kept all comments to himself, his relationship with his family was rocky at best and he didn't want to do anything to ruin it. 

Louie suddenly rushed passed them making them all look at them startled, Huey and Dewey looked at eachother and shrugged.

"They must've found something."  

Louie looked at themself in the mirror and smiled, this was it, this was the dress, finally. 

"Come on Louie we wanna see!" Their brothers voice made them jump and they looked at the mirror again before psyching themself up and opening the door. Everyone froze as Louie walked out, 

"So what do you think?" They said nervously, they were wearing a short emerald green strapless dress that had sparkles at the bottom of it, they looked stunning. 

"You look... amazing."

"You guys really think so?" They all nodded and Louie smiled.

"Good cause this is the dress I'm getting." 

"Good choice." 

"I'm ready too! Oh my gosh Louie you look amazing!" Webby squealed as she grabbed their hand with her hands.

"Thanks Webs so do you." Webby was wearing a short light pink dress with thick straps and a black waistband and where Louie's dress was straight at the bottom her's was more wavy. She turned to their brothers who also voice their approval and smiled before going back into her dressing room. Louie grabbed their brothers and hugged them they were surpised but hugged back.

"Thank you." They whispered they both nodded. 

"Of course Louie." They pulled back and grinned before also going back into their dressing room. 

"So this means we can go now right?" Dewey questioned and Huey hit him as he rolled his eyes. 

"Impatient." 

Dewey threw his hands in the air, "How was I supposed to know we'd be here this long!" 

Louie heard their brothers bickering outside and smiled, they really were the best. They didn't know what they were worried about, of course they would accept it they shouldn't have ever doubt them, they were their brothers for crying out loud.

And they really couldn't ask for better ones. 


	16. Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louie is sick at school.  
> Set sometime in the series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a suggestion, thanks Honey! If you guys have suggestions let me know!

When Louie woke up they felt awful, not the normal kind they felt but something different, they felt sick. Their first thought was to tell Uncle Donald but they knew he couldn't miss work today and he would if he knew they were sick, looked like they would just have to suck it up and deal with it. And fast, if their brothers noticed something was even a little off with them they would tell Uncle Donald. 

So when Huey went to wake them up they greeted him normally, with a groan and a 'five more minutes', if they had the choice they would stay in bed all day but they didn't, unfortunately. If they weren't in a hurry Huey would let them have the five minutes and it looked like it was one of the days he patted them as he went to get ready and they sighed in relief, they would take whatever they could get. 

The five minutes was up sooner than they hoped and they groaned again as Huey woke them up again.

"C'mon Louie it's been five minutes."

"Doesn't feel like it." They said groggily.

"I promise it was." Louie sighed and sat up, quickly getting dizzy and steading themself before their brothers could notice. 

"Did you guys finish the science homework?" Dewey said as he struggled to put on his shirt, "Cause I gotta tell ya, I did not." 

"Ya I did, Louie?" Louie jumped and Huey looked at them strangely, "Did you finish the science homework?" 

"Most of it." They said looking for a clean hoodie smiling when the found one. "I had trouble with the final problems so I just didn't do them." 

"I'll help you guys at lunch now come on before we're late." The three of them walked downstairs and got breakfast but Louie didn't feel too hungry so they just sat there waiting for their brothers to finish.

"Arentcha gonna eat?" Dewey asked when he saw them just sitting there.

They shook their head, "Not hungry." 

"You okay?" Huey asked worriedly. 

"Fine just not hungry." He nodded and went back to eating but Dewey looked at them for a couple of seconds and they tensed, he shrugged and went back to eating as well and they sighed in relief. That was a close one. 

They sat quietly in the car as Donald drove them all to school trying not to get a headache from their brother's bickering, it wasn't working. They noticed their Uncle look back at them a couple of times but did their best to ignore it, they couldn't let him know they were sick. 

As their brothers got out of the car Donald called their name.

"Yeah?" 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah I'm fine just tired, didn't get a lot of sleep last night." They weren't technically lying, they didn't get a lot of sleep last night and that certainly didn't help things. He nodded and let them get out and waved as he drove off.

"What was that about?" 

They looked at Huey, "Just wanted to make sure I was good with being stuck with you two dorks all day." They said with a smirk but inwardly tensed hoping they would buy it, they did with a roll of their eyes, Louie sighed in relief when their brothers turned around and the three of them walked into the school. Louie already wanted this day to be over. 

Louie was struggling to stay awake, having Social Studies first was usually brutal but today it was unbearable. They rested their head on their hand with a sigh and completely tuned out not even trying to pay attention they simply didn't have the energy to. They turned their head slightly and noticed Dewey watching them they gave him a questioning look but he just continued to study them. 

'What?' They mouthed he shrugged and turned back to the board, that was too close they were gonna have to try harder. They were aware that now that they were at school they could relax a little bit but they still didn't want their brothers to know they didn't want them to worry, they shouldn't have to worry besides Louie could take care of themself. 

No they couldn't. 

* * *

By the time English rolled around Louie was absolutely miserable, it was their final class before lunch and they wanted nothing more than to go home. They fought back another coughing fit and tried to pay attention, they had already been called out twice today and they didn't want a third. They were lucky it was a slow day in PE otherwise they would be a lot worse, they had gotten lucky a lot today they only hoped it would last. 

Dewey nudged them and handed them the worksheets, they grabbed one and handed the rest to Huey who took them with a smile. Louie looked down at the paper and tried to start working on it but it looked blurry, they blinked a couple of times but that seemed to make it worse with a sigh they raised their hand and asked to go to the bathroom. When they were given permission they walked out and ignored their brother's looks of concern. They were fine, they had to be. 

They walked into the inclusive bathroom and to a sink where they turned on the faucet and splashed their face a few times, they were fine, nothing was wrong. They looked at themself in the mirror and groaned, they looked horrible, as horrible as they felt. They suddenly grabbed the sink when the room started to get dizzy, they had been standing for too long, and tried not to throw up, they failed.

After they finished throwing up they walked back to the sinks and washed their hands and face and groaned again, this had to be the worst day ever. As they walked out of the bathroom they realized they would have to drink something to mask their breath and walked to a nearby vending machine. They made sure they had enough change and bought an orange juice. When they finished it they sighed and stumbled back to class, plopping in their seat but they regretted it when they felt like they were gonna be sick again they waited for the feeling to pass before starting to work on the worksheet.

Most students rushed out when the bell rang, eager for lunch but Louie took their time which meant their brothers also took their time. 

"I don't know about you guys," Dewey said as they walked to the lunchroom, "But I thought that worksheet was stupidly hard, like almost impossible."

"It was easy if you paid attention."

"See that's what always gets me." Huey rolled his eyes and looked at Louie who hadn't said a word, they hadn't said much today as a matter of fact but he figured it was just one of their bad days so he wasn't too worried they would talk if they wanted to. They walked to an empty table and sat down after stopping by their lockers and grabbing their lunch bags. 

"So," Dewey started, "Are you gonna help us with the science homework now, professor Huey?"

"Don't call me that and yes but I'm only helping not doing it for you."

Dewey put a hand on his chest, "I am hurt Hubert we would never." 

Huey rolled his eyes, "Sure, so it's really simple photosynthesis is the process used by mostly plants to convert light energy into chemical energy."

"I'm already lost."

"How?" 

"What is light energy?"

"The sun Dewey!"  

"How was I supposed to know that?!" He turned to Louie, "Did you know that?!" They nodded and he sighed planting his face on the table.

Huey ignored him and looked at his other sibling, "What did you need help with Louie?" 

"The last few problems, what is an oxidation-reduction process?" 

"It's the removal and gaining of electrons in molecules. In plant photosynthesis, the energy of light is used to drive the oxidation of water, producing oxygen gas, hydrogen ions, and electrons. Most of the removed electrons and hydrogen ions ultimately are transferred to carbon dioxide, which is reduced to organic products."

Both of them look at him lost, "What?" 

"Basically it's just a fancy way of describing photosynthesis and those questions were optional."

"What?"

"Yeah, they were extra credit." 

"I got a massive headache for nothing?"

"Pretty much." Louie groaned and threw their head on the table Huey patted them comfortingly and Dewey looked at the both of them,

"I still need help!" As Huey turned to Dewey Louie kept their head on the table, they were out of energy simple as that. They weren't too sure how much longer they could go on but they picked their head up and tried to eat it probably wasn't the smartest move but they had already skipped breakfast they couldn't afford to also skip lunch. They quickly regretted it when they felt vomit in the back of their throat they abruptly stood up and ran out ignoring their brother's calls, they barely made it to the bathroom before they started to throw up. They didn't really know what was going on around them however they could still hear the bathroom door open and their brother's voices searching for them,

Great. 

* * *

They felt a comforting hand on their back as they finished throwing up and groaned but they honestly couldn't believe they had lasted this long, their brothers were like hawks when it came to them. 

"Huey's calling Uncle Donald," Dewey explained as he helped them up, "He's gonna come get you and then you are going home and to bed so you can get better. Why didn't you tell us?" He asked quietly.

"Didn't want you to worry." 

"I think it's pretty obvious by now that we always worry about you and apparently we gotta figure things out on our own since you don't tell us this stuff." 

"How long have you known?" Louie asked with a groan,

"Since first period." They weren't surprised Dewey managed to figure it out, he was always perceptive like that. 

"'m Sorry." 

Dewey shook his head, "I don't care about that right now I just want you to get better." Huey walked in and looked at the two of them,

"He said he'll be here in 10 minutes and that we should wait in the office. I'll get your stuff, Dewey help them down there?" Dewey nodded and shifted them slightly before they started walking. Huey split off from them and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they got to the office Dewey helped Louie into a chair and went to talk to the receptionist, while he did that Huey walked in with their bag and sat next to them. Louie leaned their head on him and he absentmindedly started to comb their hair comfortingly. 

"I know you don't like worrying us but next time please just tell us something really bad could've happened."

Louie nodded but groaned again, "That was a bad idea." Dewey came over and sat next to them. 

"Don't you guys wanna go finish eating?"

"We're fine and we're not leaving till we know you're safe." 

A few minutes later Donald rushed in and looked around for his kids when he spotted them he went over to them and started fussing over Louie who weakly batted him away. The receptionist coughed and Donald made his way over to her to check Louie out once he did that their brothers gave them a light hug and told them to get some rest before going back to the lunch room. Louie latched on to Donald as they went to his car and he sighed,

"Don't worry Louie school'll be over before you know it."

The drive back to the manor was mostly silent and longer than normal because Donald didn't want to jostle Louie too much. 

"Why didn't you say something this morning?" 

"I knew you couldn't miss work today."

Donald nodded, "I couldn't, but I would have worked something out, it's not like Scrooge can fire me for missing one day especially if one of you kids are concerned. When I said I couldn't miss work I meant it that you kids couldn't get in trouble today not that you had to lie about being sick."

"Oh." They said quietly. 

"Let's not make a habit of this, okay? I need you to tell me when something's wrong." 

"Okay." When they arrived at the manor Donald sent Louie up to bed and told Webby not to mess with them when he saw her.

"They're sick," He explained, "They need their rest." 

Webby nodded, "Should I go get Granny?" 

Donald shook his head, "No, I got it thanks though." She nodded again and walked off, he then went to search for medicine. When he found it he went up to the triplets room where Louie was passed out and sighed, he hated to wake them up but they had to take this medicine. After he gave it to them he went to call Scrooge and asked him to pick up the boys from school, he'd go but he didn't want to leave Louie in case they got worse and they lived too far for them to walk. 

After school ended Scrooge sent Launchpad to go pick the boys up and take them home, on the ride he noticed they were unusually silent but didn't know why Scrooge hadn't told him why he had to pick them up, just that he had to. When they got to manor the boys rushed out without a word and ran in. 

"Ok see you later!" Launchpad drove off and crashed into the gate. 

Dewey opened the door and the two of them ran in going past Webby and Mrs. Beakley who shouted after them, they ignored her and ran to their room. Huey quietly opened the door to see Donald sitting in the desk chair and Louie on their bed, completely dead to the world.

"How are they?" Huey asked quietly.

"They'll be fine they just need to rest for a few days. Be careful if you're gonna join them over there, don't need the two of you getting sick as well." They both nodded and sat down their bags before making their way to their bed laying on either side of them, they looked more content now which made their brothers smile before they also drifted off. Donald looked at the three of them and smiled before putting the blanket over Huey and Dewey so they were all covered and quietly left the room.

They would be fine. 


	17. The Fallout of Louie Duck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all falls apart...  
> Set sometime in the series

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also warning I almost cried writing this chapter so have fun!

It started with one thing, Louie didn't like themself sometimes that much was obvious and they knew Webby and Scrooge didn't care too much for them either, that was fine no matter how much they told themself otherwise. They also they knew their brothers and Uncle Donald cared about them too much but that wasn't as fine far as they were concerned they were wasting their time. 

No matter how many times they told them otherwise.

This was the third adventure of the week and they were so tired, none of the others were and they didn't seem to notice they were either, that was fine they could handle it.  

Until they couldn't. 

They accidentally walked too close to an edge without realizing it and Huey had to pull them back before they could go off it. They stared at it for a couple of seconds before they were snapped out of it. 

"Louie how many times do ae have ta tell yew, watch where yer goin'!" Scrooge snapped at them and they nodded trying not to cry and looked down not seeing the glares their brothers threw at him. They felt an arm wrap around them comfortingly and sighed, that somehow made them feel worse. They kept silent for the rest of the adventure, they didn't have the energy to talk it was spent on worrying instead, were they gonna get out of here alive? Would anyone get hurt? What if they got trapped somewhere or somehow got left behind? They tried not to let the others seeing their rising panic but were failing fast, this is why they didn't like going on adventures, they always worried too much for it to be fun. 

As the plane took off Louie leaned their head on Huey who looked at them concerned, 

"Lou, you okay?" 

They nodded, "Hey we should go to the park again, when did we last go?" It was a bit of a random thought but they had always liked the park. 

"Yesterday. How could you not remember?" 

"Webby!" Dewey yelled making her look at him confused, 

"What? What I'd do?"

"You can't just ask people that!"

Huey turned to Louie, "That sounds fun." 

"I don't want to anymore." They said quietly turning away from him.

"Ok, if that's what you want." 

When they got to the manor Louie raced upstairs their brothers sighed and went after them, this had gone on long enough and had only gotten worse they wanted answers. They walked into their room without knocking, they never had before. They looked around and saw Louie sitting on their bed blankly looking at the wall they shared a look and walked over to them. 

"Why can't I be normal?" 

"Why would you want to be?" Huey said as he and Dewey sat next to them.

"I'm already not a normal gender, why can't I have a normal mind?" 

"So you're not normal, normal's boring."

"Yeah you fit right in with us." Louie smiled but knew that this couldn't be fixed with just a couple of words none of this could be and they were so tired of it all. 

"Earlier when you asked if I was okay, I lied."

"I figured as much."

"I'm not okay, I haven't been for a while. You guys know I don't like going on adventures I just worry too much, too many what if's and we've been going on so many lately I'm tired guys, so tired." 

"You should have said something sooner, Louie, it shouldn't get to this point before you feel like you have to say something and we should've noticed something was up sooner and that's on us, but you have got to stop keeping stuff from us, we're your brothers we want to know."

Louie started to cry, "I'm sorry."

Huey hugged them, "Don't be." 

* * *

To say things were better after that would be a lie, in fact, things seemed to be worse. Louie was snappy to everyone including their brothers but they didn't take it personally they knew they didn't mean it especially when they profusely apologized afterwards they just wanted to know what was wrong with them. Louie refused to say, however, they didn't want to risk the chance of them hating them but after a few days Dewey wasn't having it anymore and carefully corner them. 

"Louie why won't you tell us what's wrong?" 

"It's not that easy to talk about." They partially lied quietly, it wasn't easy to talk about but that wasn't the whole reason and they knew it and so did Dewey. 

"Louie we're worried."

"Well stop it! I don't want you to worry about me!" I'm not worth it, they added silently looking down.

Dewey looked at them, "You can't, that's not for you to decide! Please just let us in..." Louie looked at him with tears in their eyes and hugged him sobbing he looked shocked for a couple of seconds before hugging them back. After a few seconds he subtly got his phone and texted Huey, they both needed to hear this. 

A few minutes later Huey walked in and Dewey was surprised when their Uncle Donald followed, seemed he noticed something was up to. Huey came and sat on the bed and Donald went and sat in the desk chair, Louie pulled away from Dewey but didn't seem surprised at the new additions. 

Huey placed a hand on them, "What's been going on with you Louie?" 

They looked down and started playing with their hands, they were nervous but they knew it was time for them to come clean, "Sometimes... sometimes I don't like myself too much, and I worry that one day you'll realize how much trouble I am and just stop caring about me. And I say that I don't care that Scrooge and Webby don't like me but I do, a lot I mean I get why they don't, I'm not anything special. And I wish that I didn't have all these problems, that I didn't make things so difficult all the time, and sometimes I think that you guys are just pretending to care about me, and if you're not I really don't understand why." 

Everything was silent for a few seconds as the others tried to process everything, "You should've said something sooner," Huey started, "About all this."

"Yeah this stuff, it sounds awful Louie you shouldn't have to go through it alone." Dewey continued, 

"And you won't anymore." Donald finished Louie looked at all of them and smiled sadly,

"You guys are the best I don't deserve this..." 

"Yes you do, why don't you see how amazing you are?" 

"You guys are the amazing ones, not me." 

"Well we think you're amazing and that's gotta count for something." 

Donald kneeled down in front of them and gently grabbed their shoulder, "Louie we love you, we care about you, so much, there is nothing you can do to change that. You are amazing, you are special because you're you and there's no one else like you and I'm so sorry you've been feeling this way." 

"Why are you sorry? It's not your guys' fault it's mine." 

"Because we made you feel like you couldn't tell us." 

"But you didn't, it's me, I'm the one who thought those things, you didn't do anything." 

"Why did you think those things? Because you felt bad about yourself?" Huey asked which made them turn their attention to him. 

"Well yeah..." 

"I'm sorry but I just don't get it," Dewey said as everyone turned to him confused, "How could you not think of yourself as anything but great? I don't understand how you could just think so badly about yourself like it's no big deal, you're so quick to assure us it's not our faults why can't you do the same for you?" 

"I don't know... It's easier to not like myself." 

"What's easier isn't better." Huey let out a breath, "Ok, so all of this boils down to you not liking yourself and thinking we're either pretending to like you or one day we'll wake up and realize that we don't, is that true?" Louie nodded, "But Louie don't you think we wouldn't want to be around you if we didn't like you, why would we pretend?" He continued before Louie could answer, "We wouldn't, we do like you, we love you, we will always love you nothing can change that, nothing." 

"Louie you're not the only one with problems, you're not the only one dealing with stuff but you're not going to go through it alone we're gonna get through this like we've gotten through everything else, together." Donald gripped their shoulder again, "There is nothing wrong with you, who you are is okay, what you're dealing with is okay and if anyone thinks differently, that's on them, not you. But you being so down on yourself, you hating yourself that is not okay and we are gonna do whatever we can to help you fix that." 

Dewey looked up and at them, "This is not your fault, everything going on, it's not please you have to understand that," He wiped his eye, "You feeling this way, it's not your fault, it's no ones. Earlier, you said you didn't want us to worry about you, all we do is worry about you, about us, that's what people who care about each other do, that's what family does and I think I speak for all of us when I say I couldn't ask for a better family," He gripped their other shoulder, "For a better sibling. You, you're just so great! So wonderful, so all positive things that I can't even think of and it's because you're you. We all think you're great, it's time for you to start thinking so too." 

"You guys," Louie looked at all of them, "I love you guys. So much." 

They all hugged them, "We love you too." 

* * *

"Why do you think Scrooge and Webby don't like you?" Donald asked after the hug ended.

Louie shrugged, "Besides the fact that they were okay with leaving me in Macaw? Just a general feeling, like when Scrooge took the others to the aquarium and didn't invite me, and he clearly prefers you guys over me."

"It is pretty clear." Huey said quietly. 

"I'm scared you'll pick them over me." 

Dewey jumped up, "Who cares about them? You're more important to us that they'll ever be!" 

Louie looked at him astonished while Donald ran a hand down his face and got up, "We're fixing this, now." 

The triplets followed after him, "You don't have to," Louie started,

"They make you feel bad, that is not okay." Louie looked at their brothers worriedly and they rubbed their arms but didn't say anything, Uncle Donald was right it wasn't okay and it had gone on for long enough. When they got to the den Louie felt their chest tighten but unlike the times before they said something, 

"Guys..." They said quietly. 

Their brothers looked at them, "What's wrong?" They all heard their Uncles' fighting in the background and tensed,

"I don't, I can't."

"Whoa Louie breathe," They quickly led them out of the den and made them sit on the steps, "It's okay, it's gonna be okay."

"No it's not this is my fault!" 

Dewey made them look at him, "No. It's not." He pulled them close to him, "Breathe, just breathe. We got you." 

"We're not going anywhere." Huey added scooting closer to them so that their arms were touching. 

A few minutes later Donald and Scrooge walked through the doorway,

"Talk to them." Donald pushed Scrooge and he sheepishly walked over to them, Huey and Dewey gave him a warning glare but didn't say anything.

He bent down and looked directly at Louie who refused to look at him, "Louie, kiddo ae never meant ta make yew feel like ae didnae like yew, ae do. Ae just dinnae understand ye sometimes but tha's on me, not ye and ae want ta fix tha'. Ae am so sorry." 

Louie looked at him, "Thanks, Uncle Scrooge." They reached up and hugged him, he smiled and hugged them back, the others watched with a smile. When they pulled apart Webby barged in with tears in her eyes and hugged them too.

"I'm sorry too! I do like you, you're one of my best friends I'm sorry I made you feel like you weren't." They nodded and hugged her back and a few seconds later their brothers joined in on the hug. A few more seconds later they all pulled apart and everyone started to go their separate ways but Scrooge stayed behind which made Louie stay as well and look at him questioningly.

"Ae'm also sorry fer snapping at yew a few days ago." 

Louie sat back down on the steps and Scrooge joined them, "I'm not made for adventures, I only go cause of my brothers." 

"Ae think yer more capable than yew realize but ae think we'll be takin' a break from them fer awhile, some things are more important." He patted them on the shoulder before he got up and a few seconds later their brothers and Webby came back and got them before whisking them away to a war game, all with huge grins on their faces which they matched. 

Things were starting to look up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Louie's arc is done it's actually kinda bittersweet but I am so excited for what's next!


	18. School Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey has trouble with school good thing he has a good older brother.  
> Set sometime in the series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The start of a new arc: Dewey's! Super excited to be writing it. Let me know if you guys have story suggestions involving him.

Dewey was okay with a lot of things, school was not one of them if he didn't have his siblings with him every day he'd probably go crazy. He was currently sitting in English trying not to fall asleep and failing miserably, he looked to the left and tried to get Louie's attention hoping they were as bored as he was but they were focused on the note in their lap. He looked over trying to read it but they moved it and glared at him he smiled back innocently and turned back to the board but regretted it as he quickly became bored again. 

He let out a sigh and looked at the clock, 10 minutes til lunch he wasn't sure he could wait he started tapping his fingers on his desk much to the annoyance of his siblings.

"Dewey." Huey hissed quietly, "Stop that." 

"But I'm bored!" He wined back Huey rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else, he knew how his siblings could get with school. 

After what felt like an eternity the bell for lunch finally rang Dewey let out a cheer and rushed out of the room, Huey sighed and grabbed the bag he left behind before grabbing his own and following his siblings out. When they got to their lockers he handed it to Dewey who took it gratefully and stuffed it into his locker which made everything fall out, Dewey looked at the mess and sighed. 

"Reason 52 why you should organize your locker." Huey said as they helped him clean up he mocked him quietly which earned him a hit on the shoulder from Huey and a chuckle from Louie. After they finished cleaning the mess up his siblings opened their own lockers and got their lunches out before the three of them headed to the lunch room. 

"What was in that note Lou-Lou?" Dewey questioned as they were walking.

"I don't know what you're talking about." They denied immediately. 

"Oh so it wasn't a love letter from your booyfriiiend?" 

"I don't have a boyfriend, dummy." 

"Suuure you don't." Louie rolled their eyes as they all sat down and opened their lunch and made a face.

"Beakley." They grumbled and gave Dewey their banana in return for his orange. 

"I like oranges, oranges! Why is that so hard to remember?!" 

"No idea sib she gave you an apple right Hue?" 

"Yup."

"Well one out of three isn't that bad." He got out his sandwich, ham and cheese.

"Looks like she got the sandwichs right so that's something." They all pulled out the rest of their lunches and started eating. 

"Are you guys ready for the math test?" Huey questioned after he took a sip of his milk Louie nodded but Dewey just looked at him.

"There's a math test today?!" 

"Do you even look at the board?" 

Dewey threw his head down, "I'm screwed." 

"If you would just study-"

Dewey picked his head up, "It's hard Hubert! I'm not a math genius like you two." 

Huey placed a hand on him, "You don't have to be a genius to pass. You know you can always ask us for help." 

Dewey smiled, "Thanks guys." 

* * *

If school was the devil math was like some super devil Dewey decided as he took the math test, it just didn't make sense to him he understood the basics but anything more than that, he was lost. But of course his siblings were already done because why not? It's not like he felt bad enough about himself, he looked at the two of them quietly talking and sighed. They turned and gave him an encouraging smile which made him look back down at his paper, if they believed in him he could do anything. 

When he finished he turned the paper in with a sigh, "Now we wait." He whispered as he walked back to his desk and slid into it trying to catch up with his siblings' conversation. 

"But if they know how difficult Glomgold is why would they take on his order again?"

Louie shrugged, "Makes for good TV." 

"I guess but is it worth it?" 

"Probably not," They turned to Dewey, "So how do you think you did?" 

"Honestly? Pretty bad I knew nothing guys, nothing!" The teacher glanced up at them and he gave her a sheepish look before turning back to his siblings and continuing quieter, "Seriously it looked like a bunch of gibberish to me I'm positive I failed." 

"Don't beat yourself down Dewey you probably did better than you think you did and if not it's not the end of the world." Dewey nodded but didn't say anything and a few minutes after the last kid turned in their test they were handed back. Huey and Louie looked at theirs and grinned but Dewey just turned his over.

"I can't do it." Huey rolled his eyes and grabbed his paper forcing him to look at it, he did and was surprised at the grade he got.

"I passed!" He said showing his siblings the bright red 76 on it they both grinned at him and Huey patted him on the shoulder.

"Told you." He teased gently Dewey lightly pushed him but smiled he passed! He actually passed! Maybe he wasn't as bad at school as he thought, then again he was nowhere near his siblings' levels, at least when it came to math on other subjects he and Louie were square, and he wasn't sure he was okay with that. He knew they didn't mean to be smarter than him and he didn't blame them for anything he just wished he was as smart as them. 

When the bell rang the three of them got up and walked to their final class, science. Dewey liked science sometimes, like when they did experiments or watched a video he hoped today would be one of those days but was quickly disappointed when they walked in and saw the writing on the board. 

Dewey sighed as they got in their seats, "I'm so ready for this day to be over."

"I feel that." Louie lent forward and held out their fist he smirked and bumped it as Huey rolled his eyes and got out a notebook.

"I knew I forgot something." Dewey said when he noticed it he went to double check his bag but was stopped,

"I'll let you copy my notes later."

"Thanks Hue." As class went on he tried to pay attention but failed, he was just too bored. He looked at his siblings but they were both focused on the board or pretending to be in Louie's case, he watched them for a few seconds to make sure they were okay he had plenty of reasons to worry after all. Thankfully they looked fine, just as bored as he was and he couldn't help but be a little relieved, least he wasn't in this alone. 

After the bell rang the triplets went to their lockers Huey and Louie opened theirs seamlessly but Dewey hesitated,

"Here goes nothing." He carefully opened it and was relieved when everything stayed in. "There is a god!"

"There are a lot of gods we've met them." 

"That was fun." Dewey said sorting out his bag with what he needed and what he didn't. 

"Yeah you got to go on some epic adventure while we were stuck competing in those lame games." 

"Lame is one word for them." Huey said closing his locker and patiently waiting for his siblings to finish. When they did they started walking towards the front, 

"I tell you guys I'm glad it's Friday."

"It's Wednesday."

"You can't let me have one thing." Louie rolled their eyes at their brothers and opened the front door walking outside. 

* * *

"All that I'm saying is it should be Friday," Dewey said as he and his siblings got into their Uncle Donald's car. "Don't you wish it was Friday Uncle Donald?" 

He looked at them before pulling out, "More than anything. How was school?"

"School." Louie replied getting out their phone.

"I got a 76 on the math test no big deal."

"Dewey that's great! I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Uncle Donald but you should really be proud of these guys what'd you get like an Att?"

"That's impossible, I got a 97." 

"99." 

Dewey sank in his seat slightly, "See that's great." 

"You did well to Dewey, don't beat yourself down because someone did better than you, you'll never be happy that way. A 76 is great." 

"Yeah and if you really want to get a higher grade we'll help you study." Huey said placing a hand on his shoulder he smiled at him and perked up, Uncle Donald was right he did do good, so why didn't it feel like enough?

When they got to the manor they ran out of the car to go find Webby and goof off for the rest of the day.

"Homework." Donald reminded them when they walked in they groaned but went into the den to start it anyway. After a few minutes Dewey gave up and slid the worksheet away from himself Huey looked up from his worksheet and rose an eyebrow.

"I can't do it Hue it's too hard!" 

"Well the important thing is that you tried, do you want help?" 

"Please!" 

"Okay so what exactly don't you get?" 

"Why do we need to know about this place?"

"It's a staple in history Dewey a war was fought there! But not just any war..." Dewey listened as Huey explained everything he kinda got it an important war was fought, lives were lost, things changed the usual. He could see why Huey liked this stuff, it was interesting but he didn't find any use for it, why hear about history when he could be playing soccer or going on a near-death adventure? There were better ways to spend his time than being cooped up in some boring building and he knew it well. 

Well, at least his siblings were with him. 


	19. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey loves to look up at the stars.  
> Set sometime in the series.

Nighttime had always been Dewey's favorite time of the day, not because he got to sleep but because he got to look at the stars. Sometimes his siblings joined him and those times were super fun but the times where he was alone were incomparable. There was just something about staring at the sky alone that was indescribable and he always felt better after doing so. 

It was like the stars called to him, like they wanted to tell him something but what he couldn't figure out. 

He always felt at peace looking up at them perhaps that's why he did it so much, he was a rambunctious child but it was nice to feel calm every now and then. He found it weird how he could stare up at them for hours, he wasn't like his siblings he couldn't sit still for more than five minutes, but he had no problem being out here and he could never figure out why. 

It also gave him a good chance to think. 

He was restless, constantly moving, he didn't have time to think during the day, he was always up and doing something but at times like these, he had no choice but to think. 

And he had a lot to think about. 

He thought about the next adventure they would go on, where they would go and what would happen, he thought about school and how much he hated the fact he wasn't any good at it. He thought about Uncle Donald and how tired he looked lately, working for Uncle Scrooge wasn't easy, but he mostly thought about his siblings and how lucky he was to have them in his life. He wasn't dumb, he knew he could be a lot to put up with most times but they did it in stride and with little complaint and even then it was teasing, he couldn't imagine anyone else doing that. He didn't think they'd want to but his siblings, they did and he could never thank them enough for that, even though he tried but they always seemed to know anyway. 

"Dewey," He heard a voice behind him suddenly and he turned to see Huey standing there concerned, "You coming to bed soon?" 

"Yerp." He nodded and went back into their room and Dewey turned back towards the sky. 

He knew they were watching him, he always had a sorta six sense with it came to them but he couldn't bring himself to care too much, he was content, ~~for once~~. And it felt sorta nice knowing they were right there, they were a comforting constant in his life and he was so glad for that.

But sometimes, sometimes it was hard being a triplet, he loved his siblings, he really did but he was tired of being bunched into a group never being seen as his own person, it's why he tried so hard to stand out. He wanted to stand out, he wanted to be his own person! But other people didn't see that they just saw the triplets, Huey Dewey and Louie and he wanted to be just Dewey. 

Maybe that's why he liked being out here alone so much, out here he was Dewey, the boy who loved the stars, not Dewey, the youngest boy in the triplets. Maybe that's why he tried to come out here every night, the peace and calm were nice but being himself was even nicer. He knew his siblings had no problem with him being himself they encouraged it! But it was nice to just be Dewey for awhile and he didn't really care if he sounded selfish, the right people understood and the rest simply didn't matter in his mind. 

He didn't mind sharing this with his siblings, in fact the times he was joined by them outweighed the times he wasn't, but sometimes he just needed to be alone like right now, sometimes he just had to have this to himself. It was nice to have some time to himself, it was always fun with his siblings but sometimes he didn't want things to be fun, sometimes he just wanted calm. He knew there was nothing wrong with that, he had a pretty hectic life so it was perfectly reasonable to want some calm, but the tiny voice in the back of his head said there was something wrong with him. He always ignored it, what did it know? But maybe, maybe there was something to it, a seed of doubt that told him he wasn't as great as he thought he was. 

He didn't know why the voice said those things but it was safe to say that it was similar to Louie's voice and that one was wrong so... 

He knew his was. 

With that thought in mind he turned around and went to get in his bed contently falling asleep to snoring and the shifting of sheets. 

* * *

This time he was joined by his siblings and everything felt right, it always did when the three of them were together and he was a different kind of content, not better just different. The three of them were sat on the edge of the balcony, Huey to his left and Louie to his right and everything felt like it was supposed to and he knew there wasn't anywhere he'd rather be. 

Huey was currently explaining different things about the stars and they were listening intently, it was fun to see Huey go on about this stuff he was so excited about it and that always made them smile. 

"I don't see it," Louie said looking at the sky to be fair he didn't either but he wasn't as good at seeing constellations as Huey was.

"Look, you see that star right there." He said pointing a random spot in the sky.

"I see a lot of stars right there." 

"Okay, you see those two stars really close together?"

They both made a noise of agreement, "To the left of that, that's Aquarius," They made awing noises, "Yeah he's pretty cool, he represents the god Ea, Ea was the ruler of the southernmost quarter of the Sun's path, the "Way of Ea", corresponding to the period of 45 days on either side of winter solstice. Aquarius is also associated with the destructive floods that the Babylonians regularly experienced, and thus was negatively connoted." 

Louie turned to him, "Aquarius is one of the zodiac symbols right?"

"Yup, January's." 

"Are all the zodiac symbols constellations?"

"Uh-huh, that's where we got it from, at certain points of the year certain constellations are visible. The zodiac is part of the apparent path the sun takes across the celestial plane in a year."

"Cool cool cool, so what happens when one of those stars die, wouldn't it look different?"

"Those stars are lightyears away, we'll never know if they're dead or not."

"Bleak." Louie commented looking back at the sky.

"True but they are nice to look at." Huey said as he joined them. 

"'Nother question; what does connoted mean?" 

"Suggested or implied." Huey replied without tearing his gaze from the sky. 

"So why didn't you say that?" 

"Connoted sounds smarter." Dewey lightly nudged him and rolled his eyes.

"Okay," Louie said making them both look at them, "Now I have a question for you, why do you like looking at the stars so much?" 

He looked down, "I couldn't tell you honestly, just something about them." They both nodded, "But I guess... out here I'm Dewey, just Dewey you know?" They watched him but didn't say anything. 

He continued, "Out here I don't have to worry about being a triplet, out here I can just, watch the stars." 

"If you wanna be just Dewey so bad why don't you mind if we're out here to most of the time?" Huey said, not bitterly just curiously. 

"Cause I could never tire of you guys." He replied honestly and they both smiled at him, he smiled back then turned to the stars and they followed suit. 

"It's really pretty out here tonight." It really is. 

* * *

He was alone again or at least until Louie joined him he looked at them surprised but they just shrugged and sat next to him, swinging their legs. 

"I start therapy tomorrow." Louie stated after a few minutes. 

He turned to them, "Yerp, you nervous?" 

"Kinda but I know I need it." 

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"I know." They both went back to watching the stars silently and Dewey started making constellations with his mind, he didn't really feel like thinking tonight. Noticing things was something he was good at, he noticed the jewel at Atlantis, he was the first to notice that creep from Waddle's plan, and he noticed things about his siblings all the time. It was fun to use the skill in this way, he could notice different shapes in the stars and make up cool little stories about them. He didn't do it too much but sometimes he just needed to let his mind wander. 

"Do... do you think mom used to look at the stars?" Louie question quietly which made him look at them.

"She wanted to give them to us, whatever that means, so yeah." 

"Do you think that's part of why you like them so much?" 

"I mean probably, Uncle Donald and Uncle Scrooge say I'm like her all the time." 

"I didn't know that." They said quietly looking down. 

He shrugged, "S'Not something I like to share." He said nonchalantly making them look at him surprised. 

"Mom was.. she wasn't the best, she choose adventure over family and made our uncles not talk for ten years. I don't wanna be like that." He finished quietly.

"I don't think you are."

He looked at them, "Yeah?" 

"I think you care about us, about this family too much to ever be like her." 

He put an arm around them, "Thanks Lou-Lou. I just wish they would see that." 

Louie placed their head next to his, "Give them time." Time, yeah he just had to give them time, he could do that, besides his siblings saw him and that was all that mattered. 


	20. The Feeling of Not Belonging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey just wants to belong.  
> Set sometime after the season one finale.

Dewey wanted a lot of things; adventure, fame, ~~his families attention~~ but mostly he wanted to belong, he may not look like it but he often felt like an outsider in his family,

He didn't like it. 

He didn't know when he first started to feel this way, it was just one of those things that happened over time and he wished it didn't. He loved his siblings, more than he thought possible, but he always felt they were closer to each other than him and he use to be fine with that, as long as they were around he was okay.

Then he wasn't.

He was sure it wasn't intentional but he felt like they had started to exclude him and maybe that was partially his fault, when he started the search for their mom he started to push them away, not wanting them to get hurt ~~or them to hurt him~~  and suddenly he stopped seeing them as much. 

It sucked but he did what he had to do.

Except now they had all found out about their mom and they were still excluding him, he knew they weren't still mad they made that very clear, so he couldn't understand why it was still happening. 

He supposed he had Webby but even she had been flaking on him lately and he didn't really blame her, she just lost her best friend, she needed some time to heal. He couldn't imagine losing his best friends ~~and he didn't want to.~~  

The only person he felt he had left was Launchpad, he considered Dewey his best friend and if it weren't for his siblings he would feel the same way but he still really cared about him. Maybe he could cheer him up. 

When he found Launchpad he was working on something with the plane, he waved to Dewey when he saw him and went back to work. 

Dewey walked over to him, "Hey Launchpad do you need any help?" 

He looked at him, "Umm no I think I got it." A part fell, "Uh that was supposed to happen." 

Dewey rolled his eyes, "Suuurree." 

"Did you need something?" 

"Not really just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out."

"We can when I'm done with this, why can't you hang out with your siblings? I'm sure they want to."

"I'm not," Dewey said sadly making Launchpad look at him. "I'm sure they'd rather hang out just the two of them." 

"I don't know they seem to like hanging out with you a lot, but that's just my opinion." 

"No offense LP but I think you're wrong, they've been excluding so much lately and intentional or not they made it clear I'm not wanted." 

"I really think you should talk to them." 

"Maybe." 

He did not, however, talk to them choosing to stew instead, for a few days in fact until his Uncle Donald came and found him. He was in his and his siblings' room while they were off doing something they couldn't be bothered to tell him. 

"Dewey?" Donald asked after he knocked on the door, "Can I come in?" He said peeking his head into the room Dewey nodded from his bed and he walked in going next to the tri-bunk bed.

"What's been going on with you?" 

* * *

What has been going on with him? He didn't think he knew anymore. 

Dewey shrugged, "Huey and Louie have been hanging out without me."

Donald sighed, "They don't mean to exclude you Dewey it's just, Louie's having a tough time dealing with everything and Huey's been helping them, that's all."

"Why didn't either of them ask me for help?" Dewey said quietly looking straight at him which made him sigh again.

"They told me they weren't mad at me anymore so why...?" 

"They're not mad Dewey, have you tried approaching them cause from what I know, they've tried talking to you." Had they? Had they tried and he didn't even notice? No, surely he would have...

He knew his siblings like the back of his hand, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed so why did it feel like they had? He thought back on the last few days and the times he had seen them, everything seemed normal between the three of them, only that neither of them made any effort to hang out with him. Or that was what it seemed like but, could he have been wrong? 

"Dewey?" Donald questioned after he had been silent for a few minutes, he jumped out of his thoughts and looked at him,

"Sorry... do you know where they are right now?"

"Den." Dewey jumped up and climbed down the ladder normally he would have just jumped off his bed but his Uncle Donald was right there and that wouldn't have ended well. He quickly hugged him and ran out, 

"Thanks Uncle Donald!" Donald smiled but was inwardly worried first Louie and now Dewey, what was going on with his kids?

Dewey sighed as he walked to the den, he knew he had to fix this, if he really hadn't noticed their efforts that was his fault, not theirs. He braced himself before walking in and seeing them quietly talking about something. They both fell silent when they heard the footsteps and turned to see who it was, smiling slightly when they saw it was Dewey. 

"Hey Dew what's up?" 

He walked in further and sat next to them on the couch, "I'm sorry if you guys have been trying to talk to me and I didn't notice," He looked down and started playing with his fingers nervously, "I don't know why but that's no excuse and I really am sorry. I thought you guys were excluding me but I didn't realize I was probably excluding myself, again." 

Huey placed a hand on him which made him look up, "We weren't trying to exclude you Dewey,"

"I know that's why I couldn't be too mad." 

"But, we're sorry you felt that way, we probably could have tried harder. We'll forgive you if you forgive us, deal?"

"Deal." He turned to Louie, "Uncle Donald said you were having a hard time dealing with this stuff, is there anything I can do?" 

"You can tell us everything that's going on with you." Dewey cursed quietly, they had always been able to read him well. 

"I don't always feel like I belong, you two have always been closer to each other and I was fine with that, till I started feeling left out and Webby stopping hanging around us. I know she's going through a hard time but so are we, so am I." 

"Dewey..."

"And Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald always think of me as a younger Della, but I'm not! I'm Dewey! And they just don't get that, they seem to think I'm gonna do something to tear this family apart but I don't want to! So yeah I don't belong anywhere." 

"You belong here. You belong with us." 

"But-"

"No buts Dewey you're our brother and we know you best. Not them. And we know you're not gonna tear this family apart, not if you can help it and I know it seems like Louie and I are closer sometimes but that's just not true, please believe that. We're all close to each other the same amount and we don't care about one of us more than the other, that's not us." 

Louie nodded, "I love you just as much as I love Huey, dork." 

Dewey rolled his eyes and smiled, "I love you to dork." 

Huey put a hand on both of their shoulders, "And I love you, you weirdos." They both pushed him playfully and the three of them laughed, maybe they were right, Dewey thought, maybe he did belong somewhere after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow shorter chapter, it was supposed to be longer but I felt that was a good place to end it. Let me know what you all thought!


	21. First Crush Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey gets his first crush.  
> Set sometime before season 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to know what's been going on please check my Tumblr, starshinewriter!

Dewey had never really thought much about crushes, he always had more important things to worry about. But after Louie got their first one he started to wonder, did he like anyone? The obvious answer would be Webby but he saw her as more of a sister, they had been through enough for that thought to be valid, or maybe Lena but he barely saw her as a friend and she was... not around anymore, so who then? No one? Maybe, he's always been more focused on adventures and other activities than on people, his immediate family being the only exception, so it could be entirely possible that he just, doesn't like anyone. 

Or he just hasn't found someone to like yet, that was possible to, he was only ten after all. 

"How did you know you liked guys?" He asked Louie one day.

"I just knew I guess." Was their answer, "Why?" 

"I've been thinking about it lately, I don't who I like or if I like anyone at all."

"That's okay, there's no rush to figure yourself out." 

"It feels like there is." 

"Mood." He lightly nudged them with a smile as they pulled their legs close to them and looked at him curiously.

"Why are you thinking about this stuff now?" 

He shrugged, "I honestly couldn't tell you why, it just sorta happened you know?" 

"I guess..."

Dewey threw himself back on Louie's bed with a groan, "I hate this I liked it better when I didn't think about this stuff!"

"It's a part of growing up."

He made a face, "Gross." 

"It's not that bad," Huey said as he walked in, "There a lot of perks to being an adult."

"Taxes." "Jobs." 

"Well those are pretty bad but we won't have to worry about that for years. What are you two doing?" He asked joining them on the bed.

"Just talking. How do you know who you like?" 

"I don't know, I never have sorry." 

"This is hopeless!" His siblings shared a look and laid down on either side of him. 

"Why is this bugging you so much?" 

"I hate not knowing something." 

"You'll figure it out eventually, and we'll help you in any way we can." 

"I know you will, thanks guys." 

* * *

"Class meet our newest student, James Sterling." Most of the class gave a bored greeting as Dewey turned to his siblings.

"We're not the new kids anymore!" He high-fived them both then took a good look at the new kid. He was a average height and weight black bear, nothing too special. Seemed kind of snobby with the fancy clothes he was wearing but that was about it, so why couldn't Dewey stop staring? He quickly shook his head and turned his attention back to the board before anyone could notice. 

When the bell rang, Dewey sighed, one period down 6 more to go, well at least art was next. As they walked there he started thinking, why couldn't he stop looking at the new kid? What was it about him that made him so, attractive? Yeah, that had to be it he found him attractive. But why him? He was just the new kid, was that it cause he was new? Maybe but he couldn't be too sure. He decided not to dwell on it too much and to instead focus on art like his siblings were, too bad fate had other plans.

"Is it just me or did that new kid seem really stuck up?" 

"Oh you saw it too! I thought it was just me, Dewey?"

He jumped out of his thoughts, "Huh wha?" 

"What do you think of the new kid?" 

He shrugged, "He's okay I guess. Pretty much what you'd expect from a private school." The other two made noises of agreement and Huey held up his paper triumphantly,  

"It's done! It's a fish- I think." 

"Very um interesting?" 

"Art may not be my strong suit but I at least I did something, your paper's completely blank Dewey!" 

"Yerp um, my minds sorta been, somewhere else?" He said scratching his head.

"Everything okay?" 

He sighed, "I think I might like the new kid? I'm not too sure."

"But you agreed he's stuck up?"

"I know it's like my mind is saying one thing and my hearts saying another!"

Louie patted him, "Welcome." 

"I don't know, why does this have to be so confusing!" 

"Feelings aren't black and white Dew they're supposed to be confusing." Huey said starting to mess with his paper but stopped when Louie gave him a look. 

"It's not that bad."

"Maybe but I know it can be better." Dewey, sensing the conversation changing, sighed and turned to his own paper, which was still blank. Huey was right feelings are supposed to be confusing, doesn't mean they don't suck though. He liked the new guy even though he seemed like a jerk but he only seemed like one Dewey didn't know him, which was something else that confused him, how can he have a crush on someone he doesn't know? 

* * *

"Uncle Donald?" He asked after school ended and they were back at the manor. "How does a crush work?" 

Donald looked at him, "They don't. Why?" 

Dewey groaned, "Does no one have a answer?!" 

"What's going on Dewey?" He asked bending down to his level. Dewey sighed and started rambling,

"There's this new guy at school and he seems like a jerk but I think I have a crush on him but I'm not sure I mean I barely know the guy-"

"Dewey." Donald interrupted gently, "You know it isn't right to judge someone by their cover."

"I know."

"This is your first crush, it's bound to be confusing just ask Louie and as you get older it doesn't get easier but," He continued before Dewey could say something, "It's a part of most peoples life and it just something that happens, you just have to trust that you know how to deal with it and you do, I know you do." 

Dewey smiled, "Thanks Uncle Donald." 

"Anything else?"

"... What if he does turn out to be a jerk? What does that say about me?"

"It says that you're Dewey and there's nothing wrong with that. You shouldn't worry so much about what if's, just focus on what you do know."

"I don't know what that is."

Donald lightly laughed, "You'll figure it out." 

"Yeah but when?" 

"You're ten Dewey you have a while." He got up and started to walk away, "Homework." He reminded him he groaned but went to join his siblings in the den. Donald smiled as he watched him he knew what remaining doubts he had his siblings would help fix.

When Dewey went into the den Huey looked up and smiled at him before going back to work. Dewey sighed as he joined his siblings and got out his homework then stared at it for a few seconds,

"Oh I so don't want to do this." He groaned and Huey looked up again,

"Wow you must really not want to, you didn't say Dewey it." 

"I don't say it that much."

"Yeah you do." Louie said without looking up from their work Dewey glared at them but didn't retaliate and the den went silent as they got to work. The silence made Dewey a little uneasy, he was never good with it. There was usually some sort of background noise but not this time and his iPod was somewhere in their room upstairs and probably wouldn't be seen again until the room was fully cleaned. He started tapping his hand on the table which made his siblings look up at him annoyed he gave them a questioning glance,

"What? It's too quiet." 

"So your solution was to annoy us?"

"It's what I do best." Huey rolled his eyes at that and went back to work but Louie continued to look at him with furrowed brows which made him even more uneasy. 

"That wasn't a very funny joke." They said after a few seconds, the other two looked at them but they refused to look away, "It wasn't funny." They repeated. 

"Okay, sorry." 

Louie got up, "You don't get it!" 

"What don't we get?" Huey asked evenly hoping to get them to calm down a little.

"I used to make jokes like that all the time and now," They trailed off but didn't tear up, they refused to, this was too important. 

"Now you're, we know." Huey sighed, Dewey also got up and stood in front of them,

"I'm sorry," He gently grabbed their shoulder, "You're right jokes like that aren't funny and I'll try not to make them so much, okay?" 

Louie hugged him, "Please don't I don't want you to hate yourself like I did." 

He hugged back, "I don't." He tossed a worried look to Huey who gave one back, it was clear to both of them that Louie was still dealing with some stuff and they were gonna help them in any way they could.

That's what family does after all.


	22. Big Brother Dewey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Huey gets hurt on an adventure, Dewey has to step up as big brother.  
> Set sometime before season two.

The path of the temple was winding and Dewey had to focus all his attention on not falling off of it as it was a pretty steep drop. But it was also wide so he wasn't too worried. Scrooge and Webby were walking ahead of him and his siblings were behind him, he could probably slow down for them if he really wanted to but he didn't. Instead choosing to silently go along the path, they probably didn't want to talk to him anyway. 

After a few minutes Dewey let out a sigh as it appeared the path wouldn't be changing anytime soon and resisted the urge to lay down. He liked adventure he just didn't like the boring parts like all the walking and there was nothing interesting to look out in the temple. It was pretty empty and bare like it had been completely abandoned which he thought was pretty cool at first but now it just made the place boring.

"When is this supposed to get more exciting?" He asked Scrooge who looked at him with a frown.

"We've only been walkin' a few minutes lad."

"Yeah but it's the same path still, how big is this place?!"

"Pretty big," Huey said pausing his conversation with Louie, "It's one of the biggest temples in the world! We could be walking a while."

"Greeeat."  

Louie walked up to him, "I'm with you on that bro this is so boring." Dewey fist-bumped them and they both continued to walk as Huey caught up. So much for them not wanting to talk to him, and when he said as much they looked at him funny,

"Wait you really thought we didn't want to talk to you?" Dewey shrugged and looked down not seeing his siblings share a worried glance. Huey wrapped an arm around his shoulders as Louie looked at him curiously,

"Why wouldn't we wanna talk to you?"

"I dunno, it was stupid." 

"No it's not, what's going on Dewey?" 

"Nothing," He gave them a smile, "It's just one of those days, don't worry about it."

"If you say so." Louie looked at him again but didn't say anything which he found weird but didn't comment on it, he didn't want to deal with it right now. He'd rather be bored to death, like he currently was. They continued walking in silence which he found he was completely fine with, for once or he was until he started thinking again and that was never fun.

"What do you think we're gonna find here?" 

"I don't know Uncle Scrooge didn't say could be anything." 

"Like a room filled with gold!" Louie said excitedly which made their brothers roll their eyes fondly. They turned to rush forward but their brothers, who knew them better than they did, anticipated that and grabbed them. They groaned but didn't try to run off again and instead looked around, 

"Wow there is nothing in here." 

"I know right?! It's really weird." 

They both looked at Huey who shrugged, "It could have been abandoned or perhaps the people didn't believe in material possessions," He flicked through his guidebook, "There are many civilizations like that like the Awils or the Koloans." 

"So what they just didn't have anything?" 

"Nothing at all." 

Louie looked at him shocked, "No way, that's not possible."  

"Afraid so little sib. They simply found no need for them, course they did die out pretty quickly..." 

"Ha! Suckers." Dewey looked around again hoping to find something, anything but was out of luck and quickly resigned to his fate of being bored forever. He was so busy being bored he didn't notice the edge until it was almost too late, his brother, on the other hand, was not so lucky. 

"HUEY!"

* * *

Everyone quickly got on the plane as time was of the essence. Scrooge gently laid Huey, who was unconscious, down and shooed Dewey and the other kids away much to their annoyance, he then barked something at Launchpad and the plane took off. Louie looked at Huey for a few seconds before putting their hood up and curling up in a ball in their seat, Dewey sighed and put an arm over them. He wasn't too good at the being an older brother thing, but for Louie he'd give it a try, he looked over them at Huey who looked, unnatural it was freaky. 

He tried not to think about it too much but he couldn't help Huey looked, dead and it freaked him out. He didn't know what he'd do if Huey was seriously hurt, it was Huey for crying out loud! The same Huey who always made sure they were safe and chewed them out when they put themselves in danger, Huey who was the least reckless out of all of them and the least likely to get hurt. Who everyone thought they never had to worry about because of how careful he was, he was the one on the bench and that just wasn't okay.

"Are we almost back yet?" Dewey asked not peeling his eyes from his brother.

Scrooge looked at him, "Almost, Ay've called ahead, they'll be expectin' us." 

"Did you talk to Uncle Donald?" He pulled Louie closer to him needing to be in contact with one of his siblings right now. They clearly felt the same way as they clung to him as well.  

"Ay did, he took it as well as ye'd expect. He's gonna be okay, lad." Dewey gave him a dubious nod but didn't say anything choosing instead to comfort and take comfort in Louie, the only one who felt as worried as he did and he could tell they were having similar thoughts to him. Neither of them would be okay until Huey woke up. 

They arrived at the manor and quickly rushed off the plane when it landed, they were meant by the others who looked impatiently worried. Donald made sure his other kids were okay, well okay as they could be, and took Huey. He and Ms. Beakley rushed off to a vacant room as the others followed behind. When they got there Ms. Beakley shut the door in the other two triplets faces and Scrooge grabbed them before they could try to rush in. 

A few minutes later they were all situated outside the room, save for Donald and Ms. Beakley and Louie was fidgeting in their seat,

"Why can't we go in there?" 

"He needs Beakley ta fix him." Scrooge said calmly making Louie groan in frustration. 

"He needs us, this isn't fair!" 

"Patience kiddo." 

"Could you stop pacing for two seconds?!" Dewey looked over at them and they curled up and put their hood back up. He walked over, sat next to them and put an arm around them like he did on the plane. 

"Come on dude it's Huey, pretty soon we'll be teasing him for not looking after himself like he tells us to." 

"Yeah, right after I yell at him." Louie muttered turning to face him and buried their head in his chest trying not to cry. 

"He'll be okay Louie." 

Louie looked at him, "I know that, do you?" 

"I do." 

* * *

A little while later Beakley and Donald came out of the room as everyone stood up.

"He's fine, he hit his head on the ground and got a very nasty concussion as well as some other minor injuries. Other than that he's fine but needs to stay in bed for a couple of days. He's still unconscious but you can go see him if you liked." Dewey and Louie looked at Donald pleading. He nodded and moved out of the way of the door and into the room where he sat at Huey's side. 

Dewey and Louie rushed in and sat on either side of Huey after a few seconds he started to stir, Louie bloke back tears and they both lightly hugged him as he woke. 

"What happened? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine you idiot." Dewey said breaking the hug and glaring at him while Louie lent more into him.

"Dewey..." Donald said warningly and Dewey sighed before throwing himself back on the bed annoyed, they all looked at him and waited for him to say something but he just shook his head. 

Louie then sighed and broke away from Huey, "How could you not see the cliff?!" 

He looked down, "I don't know I was distracted I-I'm sorry." 

"You're always telling us to be careful and look after ourselves why couldn't you do the same?" 

"I don't know okay?!" The others jumped back and Huey slumped down, "I'm sorry." 

Donald placed a hand on him, "The important thing is that you're okay, we can worry about the everything else later. Get some rest." Huey nodded and laid down, his siblings moved to get off the bed but he gently pulled them back and snuggled between them, seems they all needed each other right now. 

Dewey placed a kiss on his head, "Night Huey, sleep tight." He drifted off after a few seconds and Donald smiled at the three of them but the other two didn't notice, to focus on their brother to notice anything else. 

Louie looked at Dewey, "Gotta admit this is weird it's usually me in the middle." 

"Would you rather it be you?"

"Yes." 

"I wouldn't." Donald cut into their conversation, "Actually I'd rather it be none of you but here we are."

Dewey and Louie gave him guilty looks, "We're sorry, we know you worry about us a lot and we could stand to be a little more careful." 

Donald smiled at them, "It's okay I could probably stand to be a little less protective."

Dewey shrugged, "You don't have to it's nice, sometimes." He added as an afterthought and Louie nodded in agreement.

"We know it's just cause you care," They looked down at Huey, "He's gonna be okay, right Uncle Donald?" They both looked at Donald expectantly and he sighed,

"He's gonna be just fine, I promise." They nodded and settled in, neither of them were planning on leaving his side anytime soon. 

Sometime later after Donald had fallen asleep Louie turned to Dewey, "Dewey? You still awake?" 

He looked at them groggily, "Yeah why wassup?" They looked down and Dewey looked at them worriedly, "Louie what's going on?" He asked now fully awake. 

They sighed, "I'm worried, about Huey. I know Uncle Donald said he would be fine," They cut him off, "But I'm still worried, it's not like him to be so careless."

"Maybe he had a lot of his mind." He offered trying to get them to look at him.

"Maybe." 

"Look," They looked up at him, "Whatever he's got going on we're gonna help with, cause we're the best siblings ever and that's what awesome siblings do. We're gonna figure this out and we're gonna do it together, duck kids."

"Duck kids." They echoed and settled back in, "Thanks Dew you're a good older brother."

He smiled, "I try." He also settled back in and closed his eyes but didn't think of drifting until he knew Louie was asleep. When he was sure they were he opened his eyes and looked at his siblings. Lately it felt like they were all broken, but he refused to give up hope, as long as they had each other he knew they would be okay.  

And with that he joined his siblings in slumberland, completely content by their sides where he knew he belonged. 


	23. Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey has a bad day.  
> Set sometime before season two.

The morning started out fine enough, it was Saturday and that meant no school, which was fine with Dewey, and it also meant he got to sleep in which again was fine with him. He ended up going to bed later than usual, being too invested in his new comic to even think about sleep and it seemed like that decision would come back to bite him as he was rudely awoken by Huey's alarm clock.

"It, is, Saturday!" He slammed his pillow over his head as he heard movement above him. After a few seconds the alarm shut off,

"Sorry guys forgot to turn it off last night." Dewey let out a groan and tried to fall back to sleep but failed as his siblings were talking too loud to even try to. 

"Why? Why do you do this?" 

"I told you I forgot to turn it off."

"You're Huey, you don't forget anything!" 

"Can you guys please continue this somewhere else? I'm tired!" He cut in and didn't have to look up to know they were staring at him. It was silent for a few seconds as they seemed to be debating something before the door open and they left. Dewey let out a sigh of relief and tried once again to go back to sleep, only this time he was successful. 

He didn't wake up for another couple of hours and this time it was to his Uncle Donald, he groaned and turned to face him.

"Dewey it's 11 o'clock, you're usually up by now." He said looking at him worriedly. 

"Sorry I went to bed kinda late last night."

"Okay just don't make it a habit."

"I won't." Donald smiled and patted him then he slowly got up. After his Uncle left Dewey sighed and fought the urge to get back in bed, for some reason it was harder to get up today than usual and he didn't think it was just cause he stayed up so late last night. He sighed again, maybe Huey would have an answer, and with that in mind, and the fact he was starting to get hungry, he got up. 

"Hey look who's finally up!" Louie said teasingly after seeing their brother.

"Not in the mood Lou." 

They jumped back, "Sorry, geez." 

He sighed, "Do you know where Huey is?" They shook their head and Dewey groaned. They looked at him but didn't say anything choosing to go back on their phone and ignore the pit in their stomach that said Dewey didn't wanna hang out with them. He continued on his way and found himself in the kitchen which he was thankful for as his hunger had started to grow. 

He got himself some breakfast and sat down at the kitchen table, he was almost done eating when Huey walked in.

"Louie said you were looking for me, everything okay?" 

"Yerp," He lied, "Everything's fine I was just curious." Huey looked at him skeptically for a few seconds before getting a drink. Dewey sighed after he turned his back, that was close. He didn't want to worry them he was just having an off morning that happened to everyone,

That's what he told himself at least.

* * *

After he finished eating Dewey went to see what the others were up to and found that they were in the middle of a game when he almost got hit with a dart.

"Oh sorry!" Webby said picking the dart up, "I hope you don't mind we're playing without you we didn't know if you'd want to," She rubbed her neck, "Since you woke up so late and all..." 

"It's fine." Whatever she was about to respond got cut off when Louie ran around the corner and hit her with darts before taking off again as she followed after him. Dewey sighed, he should've stayed in bed.

He walked into the den and slouched down on the couch where he felt like staying for the rest of the day. He didn't feel like do anything at all today which was weird for him, he was always known as the most active triplet. In fact, he was already starting to get antsy just sitting there but he also didn't want to move. It was a conundrum to be sure. 

And since when did he start using words like conundrum?! 

He blamed Huey, his siblings always had a funny way of rubbing off of him. He knew they were worried about him today he didn't have to be related to them to figure that out but he was just finding handling this on his own even if he didn't know what was wrong. He just knew he was, off today for some reason, it's not like he had to have one! But things would be easier if he did. 

Sometimes he felt like he didn't belong with them, he knew they had that talk a few weeks ago but he still felt that way. The three of them were just so different it was impossible not to think that, and the fact that they were playing games without him proved his point further, they didn't want him around. Dewey groaned, he really didn't want to go there today, it was bad enough as it is he didn't need the extra stuff. And now he was in an even worse mood. 

Fine, if they wanted to play without him that's was fine, he didn't need them! Except he knew that was a lie no matter how many times he told himself otherwise, he needed them and he needed them really bad today. If he wasn't so stubborn he would have sought them out but he was so here we are now. 

He looked up when footsteps came into the den, was one of them a mindreader? No, he would've figured it out by now. It turned out to be Scrooge who had walked in he waved a lazy arm in greeting then went back to staring at the blank tv. 

"Deh yew want ta play with the others?" 

"They started without me." 

"Ay'm sure ye could join them now." 

"I'm fine." 

"Lad..." 

"I said I'm fine Uncle Scrooge!" He slumped further into the couch and stared at the floor, "Just leave me alone." 

"Well if yew really wanted to be alone ay dinnae see why ye cannae do that in yer room." 

"Uncle Scrooge-"

"Now Dewey." Dewey started grumbling as he got off of the couch and stormed upstairs ignoring his siblings' worried looks as he went past them. When he got to his room he slammed the door and climbed up to his bed before plopping down in it, he really should have stayed here today. 

* * *

Dewey was scrolling through his phone when the door creaked opened he looked towards it to see his siblings, he rolled his eyes and went back to his phone. 

"Dewey, what's going on?" 

"Nothing! Why does everyone assume something's wrong?!" 

Huey raised an eyebrow, "You just yelled at me for no reason, are you sure nothing's wrong?" 

He sighed, "I'm just having a bad day alright." He looked down and threw his phone on the bed angrily. His siblings exchanged a glance and headed up the ladder before sitting in front of him. It was silent for a few seconds as they waited for Dewey to start explaining but when it was clear he wouldn't Huey spoke up,

"What happened?" 

"Have you ever gotten so stressed out all you wanted to do is stay in bed?" 

"No." "Yes." 

"It's one of those days." 

"So why didn't you stay in bed? Louie does." Louie nodded in agreement and he lightly smiled, 

"I don't know, I wanted to. I probably should have. And then I got all upset that you guys were playing without me, and then I started thinking-"

"Oh no." 

"Yerp, and then I snapped at Uncle Scrooge and he sent me up here, so yeah bad day." He finished and looked at them waiting for either of them to say something and after a few minutes, they did.

"So why didn't you just find one of us? Or come up here? You didn't have to suffer in silence you know."

"I didn't wanna worry anybody, it's just an off day. Back me up here Louie." 

They shrugged, "It could be an off day or it could be something more you still should've said something." 

"I guess, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Too bad," Huey leaned back, "You lost that choice when you bottled everything up, start talking." 

He sighed, "I don't know what's wrong I just woke up this morning feeling awful and wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep then you guys started talking and I got frustrated. I was looking for you this morning Hue, sorry for lying, I thought you might know what was going on," He let out a humorless chuckle, "I'd hoped you did but I just, didn't say anything. I didn't wanna bother you and that may have made it worse, if I had just talked to you this morning maybe things wouldn't have built up so much. Then I found out you guys were playing without me and it, hurt and I don't know why it wasn't the first time it happened I guess it was cause I was already having a bad day. So by the time Scrooge found me I was all messed up and I snapped." 

They both nodded, "You wouldn't have bothered me, I'm more bothered that you feel like you have to hide stuff from us, cause you don't."

"I know! I'm just not thinking very smart today." 

"Yeah I get that," Louie said quietly, "It's like your minds saying one thing and your heart another." 

"Wow that sentence applies to a lot of things. I'm sorry for earlier by the way, when I snapped at you."

Louie brushed him off, "Eh it's fine I've done worse on my off days." 

"I'm sorry that I don't know what's going on, sometimes you just have a bad day. Nothing you or anyone else can do."

Dewey nodded, "Well if this ever happens again I know what to do, stay in bed." The three of them laughed and Dewey smiled, he really did have the best siblings ever. They spent the rest of the day hanging out in their room and at some point Webby joined them. He fell asleep after a while and didn't wake up until it was dark, which made him sigh,

'Darn missed breakfast and dinner.' He got out off his bed and noticed that he was alone once again, 'They probably didn't want to disturb me.' He walked out and the room and headed towards the kitchen. When he passed the den Donald noticed him and excused himself before catching up to him. 

"Hey Dewey feeling better?" 

"A little." Dewey wasn't surprised his Uncle knew something was up, he had always seemed to know when something was wrong with them. 

"Want me to make you some dinner?" He hesitated before nodding, it wasn't that his Uncle was a bad cook just, not a very good one. They went to the kitchen and Donald got out some rice as Dewey sat at the island. They sat in silence as Donald cooked which Dewey was fine with he had done enough talking earlier, or he thought he did at least.

"Uncle Donald do you ever have bad days?" 

"Sometimes why do you ask?" 

He placed his head in his hand boredly, "I don't know. Louie has them too, do you think it runs in the family?" 

Donald chuckled, "Everybody has them sometimes, but yeah this family has them more than normal." 

Dewey nodded absentmindedly, "Cool cool, so then how do you deal with it?" 

Donald put the rice in a bowl and handed it to him, "You just do, I guess everyone handles it differently. Some stay in bed like Louie and some try to power through it like you did, it's just a matter of finding what works best." Dewey thought about that as he ate, powering through it didn't really help but talking about it did, strangely enough. Though he may have to try staying in bed any excuse not to get up was a good one to him. 

This day started out fine enough, he probably won't stay up that late for a while, and became pretty bad but ended up okay. A pretty good way to spend his first bad day if he said so himself, though he still had to apologize to Scrooge, but that was a problem for tomorrow.

Right now he was just going to enjoy his dinner. 


	24. Standing out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey tries to stand out.  
> Set sometime before season two.

It started with one thing, Dewey changed up his wardrobe a little bit going from just a blue t-shirt to different colored shirts. His siblings looked at him weird when they saw him, but didn't say anything and that was the end of that. 

At that moment at least.

Next he found more things to be interested in and as a result, spun less time with his siblings, a bad but necessary sacrifice. Then he started acting different, doing anything he could to separate himself from the other kids. This continued for a couple of weeks before Huey said something, 

"Dewey what is going on with you?" He asked him one afternoon as they did their homework in the den, Louie was pretending to listen to music on their phone while eavesdropping on the conversation and making sure it didn't get out of hand, as they knew it easily could with their brothers. 

Dewey looked at him, "What are you talking about?" 

Huey just stared at him incredulously, "Seriously? You're acting completely different! You have all sorts of new interests that you didn't have before and you're wearing all sorts of new clothes! Why?" 

"I'm growing Hubert." 

"That's not growing, that's becoming a complete other person! And I don't understand why, do you not like yourself or something?"

He shot a quick look at Louie, "No that's not it. I'm just evolving is all, it's a natural part of life. I thought you of all people knew that."

Huey got up, "You know what? No, I can't deal with this anymore! Find me when you stop acting so weird." He stormed out and Dewey glared after him before getting back to his homework giving up after a few seconds.

"I can't do this!" 

"Well you just chased away the only person who could help us so we're both screwed." Louie closed their book and started playing on their phone while Dewey sighed and slammed his book closed. 

"You don't think I'm acting weird do you?" 

They looked at him, "You're always weird Dew but Huey's right, this is weird for you." 

He crossed his arms on the table and threw his head into them with a groan, "You guys don't get it." 

"No I really don't, why would you wanna completely change yourself?" He just shook his head and walked out leaving an annoyed Louie behind him. They really didn't get it, he was tired off being lumped in with them, tired of being just 'one of the triplets', tired off being called Huey or Louie even though he was completely different from them! He was just, so tired. 

He walked up to his room before he could think of the consequences and threw the door open making Huey jump from his spot at their desk. He turned around and glared at him before going back to work. Dewey rolled his eyes as he climbed up to his bed then plopped down and grabbed his comic book as he settled in and started reading. It was silent for a while as neither of them had anything to say to each other that wouldn't result in a fight. But Huey couldn't take it any longer and said something, 

"Why won't you just admit something's up?!" 

Dewey didn't look up from his comic, "Cause nothing's up."

"So you're just acting that way just because?"

"Yerp." 

Huey sighed and closed his book, "I'm gonna go see if Louie needs any help." He left, Dewey rolled his eyes and continued to read madder than he was before. 

* * *

The next few days weren't any better, Huey continued to avoid Dewey and that made him mad every time he thought about it, so he tried not to. Meanwhile he had spent some time with Louie, which was always fun, they weren't as mad at him as Huey was but that didn't mean they were happy with him either and they told him as much. They didn't like that he had changed, but they were never good with change so he was a little more patient with them. But eventually they went off to go find Huey which annoyed him considering this was the most he had seen them in a while even if he knew that was his own fault.

But fine, he could spend some more time on some of his new interests instead, he wasn't complaining about that. He walked into the den and grabbed a deck of cards then walked to the table and started making a house of cards before quickly becoming bored and sighing. He didn't like some of these new interests too much, however he refused to let that deter him, he would stand out if it was the last thing he did! 

With that in mind he went to see Webby, maybe she would know something that would help him. When she opened the door she noticed the serious look on his face and gestured for him to come in. After he told her what was going on she went to her books and picked one out then handed it to him,

"What's this?" 

"Perspective." He looked at her weirdly and opened it. As he read through it he got annoyed, all it was about was how good being part of a team could be. That was not what he wanted right now. 

"No, but it's what you need." He looked at her again before shaking his head and walking out. He walked around the manor for a while having nothing better to do before running into Louie. 

"Hey Lou," He said excitedly, "What's up?" 

They shrugged, "I'm fine, you?" 

"Fine."

"That's a lie and we both know it." 

He glared at them, "Okay I've been really patient but you're not even trying to accept that fact that I'm changing!"

"Because it's not you! Whoever this," They gestured up and down him, "Is it's not you! You're just trying to be someone different, why?" 

"I'm growing up Louie, people tend to change when they do that." 

"That doesn't mean you do a complete 180!" They sighed and started fidgeting with their hoodie. Dewey knew that meant he should back off but he was too angry to care,

"That may mean you don't, sorry we can't all be confident with who we are." 

They looked at him surprised, "You think I'm confident in who I am? I hate myself but you don't see me trying to change! Just, whatever." They stormed off, he was about to go after them but decided not to. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he messed up and knew he would regret it later but right now he just didn't care. 

None of them understood, he had to do this, he couldn't- he couldn't keep living like that! He couldn't keep getting mistaken for one of his siblings, he wasn't them he was Dewey! D-E-W-E-Y! He was his own person and no one was gonna tell him otherwise. 

* * *

Dewey was spending his third day in isolation when Donald found him, neither of his siblings wanted to be around him and frankly, he didn't want to be around them either. He currently was in a spare bedroom boredly scrolling through his phone not wanting to think about anything when he came in. Dewey glanced up and got a nervous look on his face, 

"What's up Uncle Donald?" 

Donald looked at him sternly, "You know what's up, you've been acting strangely these past few weeks and you haven't talked to your siblings for three days. I've been lenient up until now but this has all gone on too long. What's going on with you Dewey?" 

Dewey sighed, "I just don't want to be mistaken for one of them, why is that so bad?!" 

"It's not." He bent down, "But it is bad to push them away, to push everyone away. Trust me I know." 

"Uncle Donald..."

"Please Dewey we just want to help." 

"I'm tired of people seeing me as one of them or just 'one of the triplets' it's not fair!" 

"I know how you feel, it can be hard to break out of that dynamic but completely changing yourself is not the way to do it. We need you to be Dewey, no one else."

"How do I do that and stand out?" 

"That's up for you to decide. I can't tell you that it gets easier when you grow up cause it doesn't but you know what got me through it," Dewey shook his head, "Knowing I wasn't alone, knowing that there was someone who felt the same way I did and you are so lucky, you have two people that feel the same way you do. You've been spending so much time lately trying to separate yourself from your siblings that you forgot how great having them can be."

"I guess I did. I didn't mean to." 

"I know you didn't and so do they but that's no excuse for the way you acted."

"I should go apologize to them." 

Donald nodded, "You should." Dewey got up and hugged him.

"Thanks for the talk Uncle Donald!" He cried as he ran out, he had a problem to fix. Donald smiled after him and looked across the hall where a door used to be with a sigh. 

Dewey ran down the hall and to his room but halted when he got to the door, he didn't know what to say. That problem was fixed, however, when the door suddenly opened. He jumped back with a start and glared at Louie who was the one who had opened it. 

"Uh sorry?" They looked at him confused but moved aside as he tried to walk in. Huey looked up from his phone and let out of a puff of air as he entered, 

"Need something?" Dewey flinched slightly but refused to be deterred and looked at the both of them.

"Yes actually... I wanted to say sorry, I've been a real jerk this last few weeks and you guys didn't deserve that, so I'm sorry." Huey hopped down from his bed as Louie turned around and looked at him with a hopeful expression that made his heart hurt. 

"Why?" Was all Huey said and he sighed before answering,

"I've been wanting to something to set myself apart from you guys, so people will finally see I'm Dewey and never mistake me for one of you guys again. But I took it too far and I hurt everyone including myself in the process and I am so sorry for that, you don't even know how much," He threw off the shirt he was wearing and grabbed one of his normal shirts, "You guys are amazing but I'm not either of you and I want people to understand that but not if it makes you hate me." He finished pulling on his shirt with a huff and waited for their response.

"We could never hate you." 

"But-"

Huey grabbed him, "Never, there isn't anything you could do. It's the three of us forever, nothing could change that." He nodded and hugged him with teary eyes then looked at Louie and stretched his arms out signaling for them to join the hug which they did, not doing anything to hide the fact they were crying. 

"That was really beautiful." They said when the hug broke and both their bothers smiled at them before Dewey's turned to a frown.

"Louie I-"

Louie gave him a false smile, "It's okay." 

"No it's not, I shouldn't have brought that up especially knowing your history, I'm sorry." 

Their smile grew thinner but more genuine, "Thanks." 

Dewey sighed, "Do you really hate yourself?" Huey looked at them shocked, they then avoided both of their eyes before answering, 

"Not exactly news guys."

"I didn't think it was that bad." Huey whispered they shrugged but didn't say anything else so Huey turned Dewey, "You can stand out and still be Dewey." 

"Uncle Donald said the same thing. You guys are right, I'm gonna be me, only me and if people still mistake me for one of you guys that's on them. I know who I am and so do the people closet to me, that's all that matters." 

"Don't worry one of these days everyone will know who you are, Dewford Deuteronomy Duck."

Louie smiled, "Yeah you'll probably be some grand adventurer or the greatest at something." 

Dewey threw an arm around both of them, "And you guys will be right by my side."

"Always." 


	25. Sick Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey gets sick.  
> Set sometime during season two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidenote: If you guys are enjoying the series, comments go a long way!

Dewey had rarely ever gotten sick growing up, in fact none of the triplets got sick much, Huey least of all, but it did happen at times. 

This was one of those times. 

He had woken up that morning feeling more tired than usual and tried to go back to sleep before his siblings woke up, luckily it was Sunday so no one would try to wake him for a couple of hours. 

Or so he thought.

Just as he drifted back to sleep their door slammed open making him jump up and moan, he threw his face into his pillow as the offender started talking.

"Up and at 'em kiddos! We have a full day o' adventure ahead o' us!" 

"It's eight in the morning." Louie groaned out and he was inclined to agree with them, it was definitely too early for this. He felt movement in the bunk above him and sighed, looked like he was getting up after all. 

Huey climbed down the ladder but paused when he saw Dewey, "Whoa you don't look so good."

"Thanks." He muttered dryly turning away from him. Huey jumped down the rest of the ladder and landed in front of Scrooge, 

"Dewey's sick." He said matter a factly and Scrooge looked him over before sighing. 

"Lucky." Louie spat out from their bunk throwing their covers over their face. 

"Maybe we should postpone for another day." Huey suggested already getting out sick supplies from their desk. After he got what he needed he made his way up to Dewey's bunk and started looking him over. 

"The lad can stay here, Beakley's more than capable o' lookin' after him." 

"We don't leave anyone behind, plus good luck getting Louie up before 10 on the weekends." They made a light noise of agreement as Dewey weakly pushed Huey away. He got him to sit up after a few tries and turned to Scrooge,

"Has Uncle Donald left yet?" Scrooge nodded and Huey sighed, 

"Looks like it's up to us to look after him Lou." They let out another noise as Dewey shoved Huey with an exhausted glare,

"I don't need to be looked after, I need to go back to sleep." 

"Like I said lad Beakley's very capable o' takin care o' him, we dinnae need yew gettin' sick too." Huey brushed him off and gave Dewey some medicine. 

"It's not the first time we've done this Uncle Scrooge, we can handle it." 

Scrooge raised an eyebrow, "If ye say so, ae'll be in ta check on yew later."  He walked out and the triplets let out a sigh relief, they loved their Uncle but he just didn't understand. Louie went back to sleep as Huey nervously looked over Dewey. 

"I'm fine Huey, I just want sleep." He nodded and Dewey laid back down as Huey climbed down the ladder and went back to their desk then settled in for the day.

A few hours later Louie woke up and went to get everyone food as they left Huey got a check in text from Donald, who he had notified that Dewey was sick earlier and assured him that he and Louie could handle it and that there was no reason for him to come home. He let his Uncle know that everything was fine and went back to his book as Louie came back in with breakfast. 

They ate in silence not wanting to disturb their brother but the smell of food woke him up anyway. Louie gave him his food and he weakly gave a thanks before sitting up and picking at it, eating as much as he could. When they all finished Huey took the trash and went to the kitchen but not before asking them if they needed anything, they both said no and he left. Afterwards Louie pulled out their 3DS and started playing a game quietly as Dewey leaned over his bunk and watched. When Huey came he got his book from their desk and sat next to them on the floor. 

"What game?" 

They didn't look up, "Super Mario Bros 2." 

"You guys have no idea how tempted I was to say wildcats." 

Huey hummed, "Yes we do, aren't you still tired?" 

"Little bit, I think the medicine is kicking in." 

"That's good, try not to lean over too much."

Dewey scoffed, "You aren't the boss of me," He lent too far, "Whoa-a!... That proves nothing!" He steadied himself and ignored Huey's 'I told you so' face, he always hated that face. 

* * *

Pretty soon it was lunch time and the triplets hadn't moved from their spots, Dewey's medicine was starting to wear off so he had woken up a few minutes ago and was laying back in his bed as Huey was thoroughly reading the medicine bottle. 

"Sorry Dew can't give you more for another hour, looks like you'll have to tough it out for a while." He groaned and threw an arm over his head, 

"I'm dying." 

Huey rolled his eyes, "You are not. Either of you want lunch?" Louie nodded but Dewey groaned again. Huey was about to get up when the door opened and Mrs. Beakley walked in carrying a tray of food. She set it on their desk and let the other two grab stuff as she checked on Dewey, he appeared to be fine but she put a cold press on his head anyway. 

Huey looked over at the two of them as he ate, "Don't try and give him medicine. He can't have any more for another hour, no matter what he says." She nodded and gestured for him to hand her the soup. 

"Mrs. B." Dewey groaned out trying to turn away from her, 

"None of that, you need to eat." She helped him sit up and took the soup from Huey then started to fed him but he shut his mouth and carefully took the bowl from her. 

"I can feed myself." He said annoyed, she raised her hands surrenderingly and climbed down the ladder, then picked up the tray and started to walk out.

"Please let me know if you need anything, anything at all." The other two nodded and she left. They finished eating and Huey took Dewey's bowl from him and handed it and his plate to Louie who took them with a groan and went to the kitchen. Huey got resituated on the floor and grabbed his book giving Dewey one last glance before he started to read again. Louie came back after a few minutes looking at their phone,

"Uncle Donald sent another check in text." Huey looked at them and nodded, they sat next to him and grabbed their 3DS from off its charger, put in a new game and started playing. A few minutes later their phone buzzed and they groaned, 

"Now what does he want." They checked their phone, "Oh no not him, Andrew. Great even worse." 

"I thought you liked him." 

"I do, that's the problem." Dewey listened to his siblings' talk as much as he could, he wanted to be more interested but the cold just wouldn't allow it. He had tried to get back to sleep but he knew that wouldn't happen until he had more medicine and he still had like thirty more minutes to go. He sighed and tried to get comfortable but had no luck, he hated being sick. He got out his phone and started messing around on it before deciding to text Louie.

'Help I'm dying.' A few seconds later their phone pinged and they looked up at him.

"You texted me because....?" Dewey shrugged but quickly regretted it,

"How much longer Huey?" He groaned out and Huey paused his reading to look at his phone. 

"About twenty more minutes." Dewey groaned again and his siblings looked at him sympathetically. 

"Is there anything else we can do?" 

"Is there any juice in here?" 

"No but I can go get some, any requests?" 

"Whatever's fine." Huey nodded and left as Dewey slumped back in his bed, it was silent for a few seconds before Louie climbed up to his bed and got in it then looked at him. He looked back questioningly but they didn't say anything. 

"What's up Lou?" 

They shrugged, "Just remembering how bad it was when I was sick." 

Dewey sat up, "Yeah that was a fun day." 

They nodded and got out their phone then Huey walked in and joined them handing Dewey a juice box, 

"Mrs. Beakley didn't want you to make a mess." Dewey nodded and took a drink then carefully set it down next to him. They talked for a few minutes before Huey's phone went off, 

"Good news, you can have more medicine." Dewey let out a weak cheer and Huey climbed down to get it then made his way back up and handed it to him. He eagerly took some and it kicked in pretty quickly. When it looked like his was about to drift off his siblings decided to let him get rest and made their way back down to the floor, Huey grabbing the juice box as he went. 

* * *

Dewey stayed asleep for a few more hours and his siblings entertained themselves as they waited for him to wake up again. Right now they were in the middle of a card game that Louie was clearly winning when the door opened. Donald walked in, they both waved at him and went back to their game, Huey throwing down his cards a few seconds later as Louie raised their arms in a silent cheer. Donald smiled at the both of them and went to check on Dewey who to, his relief, was still sleeping. 

"He slept for most of the day." Huey informed him and he nodded then checked the time on his phone. 

"When he did last take some medicine?" 

Huey thought for a second, "About 3 hours ago." 

"We'll give him some more at 7. Did you two stay in here all day?" 

"Pretty much. Mrs. Beakley brought us lunch." He nodded again and sat in their desk chair.

"Wanna play a card game?" Louie asked holding up the card deck with a smirk.

Donald raised an eyebrow, "Against you? No thanks." They shrugged and started shuffling before setting up a solitaire game. 

"Oh, I see how it is." Huey said teasingly getting off the floor and stretching then sitting on Louie's bed.  

"You're a sore loser Hue." He rolled his eyes but agreed and turned to his Uncle.

"How was work?" 

Donald let out a huff of air and Louie nodded as they finished their game.

"I'm too smart for this!" They said in frustration and threw themself on the floor as Huey appeared lost in thought. 

"I wonder how Dewey got sick in the first place?" 

"That's a good question." They both looked at Donald and he sighed,

"It could have been anything, you know what he can get into." They nodded in agreement and Louie got up and sat next to their brother as Donald leaned back in the chair. Louie pulled out their phone and they both started to watch the Ottoman Empire on it then Donald joined them after a few seconds. 

It was about six when Dewey woke up with a moan, his medicine had worn off again. Louie paused their phone and woke Donald who had fallen asleep while they were sitting there. He woke with a start and Louie pointed up,

"Dewey's awake." He got out of the bed and checked on Dewey who was moaning again, he sighed and patted him comfortingly. 

"Uncle Donald, medicine?" He asked hopefully.

"Sorry kiddo, not for another hour." 

"I have to wait an hour again?!" Donald nodded but then climbed into bed next to him, Dewey curled up to him miserable as his siblings watched. They wanted to do something but they didn't know how to help. A few seconds later there was a knock on the door and Scrooge walked in with dinner,

"How is the lad?" He asked setting the tray down; Huey and Louie thanked him and started eating. 

"Dying." A muffled moan came from Donald's side and Scoorge handed him a bowl with a sympathetic look on his face. 

"No, no more food." Dewey groaned turning away from it, Donald sighed, 

"Dewey you know you have to eat something. Do you feel sick?" He weakly shook his head, "Then please eat." He looked at his Uncle for a few seconds before sitting up and taking the bowl.

"Thank you." Scrooge got his attention again and handed him a plate, he nodded his thanks and started eating as well. As they ate Scrooge conversed with the other two while Donald chimed in every now and then but Dewey was silent, not that anyone was really surprised. After they finished Scrooge took everyone's dishes and gave Dewey one more sympathetic glance before leaving. Dewey curled back up into Donald as he checked the time then gestured for Huey to give him the medicine bottle. He took it and gave Dewey some more then handed it back to him. 

"Thanks for taking care of me today." Dewey said sleepily before drifting off which made the other occupants of the room smile, Huey and Loue especially. It may have seemed like they did nothing but it clearly meant a lot to Dewey which was all that mattered. 

Donald tried to get out of the bed but Dewey had a tight hold on him, he sighed knowing he was stuck there for the night. Huey let out a quiet yawn and Louie looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he blushed and started to get ready for bed. Louie sighed and did the same afterwards they both went into their beds, 

"Kids?" They both let out a noise of acknowledgment, "Thanks for taking care of him today, it really eased my mind." 

"Happy to do it." 

"Yeah, it was nice to have a quiet day." Donald and Huey let out a chuckle at that and they all drifted off, exhausted from the day's events. 

Only to wake up a few hours later when Dewey started moaning again. 


	26. Brother Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey wonders if he's a good brother.  
> Set sometime during season two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the comments, I'm glad you're enjoying it! 
> 
> Jesuslover7: It's okay! I completely understand, yeah Louie's definitely my favorite but it's nice to write about the other as well. 
> 
> qu33nb33: Lena will be here eventually, I have some plans for her character. I agree there can never be enough Webby! 
> 
> sadspacekitten: Thank you for the kind words, Enby Louie is definitely a top headcanon! It's fine I suck at commenting myself.

Sometimes Dewey is left alone, when Huey is at some Junior Woodchuck thing, Louie's at therapy, and he has nothing going on. In those times he thought a lot, it's either that or be completely bored and he would rather die than be bored, about all sorts of things but today he's thinking about something that's been on his mind for a while.

Is he a good brother?

He knew his siblings and Uncle would say yes, Donald he wasn't so sure what Scrooge would say, but he doesn't know. Sometimes he thought no and other times yes, but lately it's been no a lot, with everything going on he felt like he wasn't doing enough. He couldn't help Louie like Huey could and he couldn't be around Huey without it breaking into a fight, recently he couldn't even help Webby. 

He felt useless. 

He sighed and turned over in his bed, he hated being alone, it always led to this, to him feeling inadequate and like he couldn't do anything right. His siblings deserved someone better than him, someone who could actually help them instead of feeling sorry for himself. He sighed again and sat up, he couldn't keep thinking like this, he needed something to distract himself. With that in mind, he got out of his bed and jumped to the floor going to their desk and searching for something to entertain him while he waited for his siblings to get back. 

All he found was a few of their textbooks and some paper so he succumbed to his boredom, for all of two seconds then hopped out of his chair and raced out of the room. His first thought was to go see Webby so he decided to do that and went to her door and was about to knock when it opened on it's on. He jumped back in surprise and held his chest feeling his heart racing as he looked at the culprit who turned out to be Webby herself. She gave him a sheepish smile and scratched her neck awkwardly before straightening up and grinning at him, 

"What brings you around here?" 

"I wanted to hang out but if you're busy I can come back later."

"What no way!" She grabbed him and pulled him into her room, "It's been like forever since we've hung out!" 

It was his turn to give a sheepish smile as he looked anywhere but her, "Yeah sorry about that it's been pretty hectic around here lately."

She nodded, "Tell me about it!" She tugged him to her bed and they both sat down, he looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. 

"Do you ever feel like you're not doing enough?" 

She looked down, "Sometimes yeah. I just can't help but keep thinking if I had done more Lena would've opened up to me and we could've figured something out but instead..." 

He grabbed her hand, "You did everything you could. She sacrificed herself for you, she obviously cared about you a lot. You were probably the first person who was nice to her, who wanted to be her friend that's amazing that you were like that, that you're you. If it was one of us who knows where we'd be right now? You did more than expected of you and that's incredible." 

She gave him and watery smile and squeezed him, "Thank you Dewey, but why did you ask that?" 

He pulled away from her and sighed, "I feel like I can't do anything to help Louie, or you and it's depressing me." 

"But you just helped me?" She stated confused but he shooked his head so she grabbed his arms and made him look at her, "Yes you did, give yourself some credit." 

"I'm sorry I haven't been hanging out with you much lately, everything with my other siblings I just-"

She stopped him, "I understand, it's okay. Besides you're here now aren't you?" 

"I am." 

"Then that's all that matters." She patted him on his arm then hopped off the bed and down the ladder. He got up and followed after her, 

"So what big mystery have you been working on lately?" She turned away from the bookshelf to face him and shrugged, 

"Oh nothing much, more things about your family, the usual." 

He nodded and looked at her board, "Anything I can do to help?" She beamed at him then launched into a lengthy speech, he nodded along as he watched her, 

He missed this. 

* * *

After hanging out with Webby for a few hours Dewey went downstairs searching for lunch when the front door opened. He peaked out from the fridge and went to investigate, he saw his siblings and Uncle Donald walking in and ran to them. 

"Hey guys! How were your things?" 

"Fun!" Huey answered firstly, "I got three badges!" He showed them to Dewey who ooed in response then turned to Louie who shrugged and trudged to the kitchen. 

"Umm...?"  

"They're just a little off right now, you know how they get after their sessions." 

"They were really quiet the whole ride home." Huey added on looking after them. Donald sighed and bent down to their level then placed a hand on each of them, 

"They will be fine let's just give them a few hours." Both of them nodded and Donald got up smiling at them, 

"Lunch?" 

When lunch was done the boys decided to hang out in the den after Donald had refused their help with the boat. They had both shrugged it off but were kinda hurt he didn't want it. A little while later Louie had come down and sat with them but didn't say anything so they didn't either, they didn't want to push them. So they sat in silence for some time and waited for Louie to get comfortable enough to say something. And after about thirty minutes they did, 

"I don't wanna feel like there's something wrong with me every time I go to therapy." They said without looking away from the TV, their brothers stared at them and waited for them to elaborate. 

"Did someone say something?" Dewey prompted after they didn't; they quickly shook their head and sighed, 

"No nothing like that just, I see all sorts of people there you know? And they've all got major problems, like borderline hospital problems and it makes me think something's really wrong with me." 

"Uncle Scrooge wanted to send you to the best therapists, they usually deal with major problems." Huey put an arm on them comfortingly, "Doesn't mean you have major problems."

They shrugged, "I guess." It was silent for a few seconds as their brothers tried to figure out what else to say and surprisingly Dewey was the first to find the words. 

"You don't have a major problem, just a lot of little ones but you're getting better, we can all see it and that's what matters. There is something wrong with you, that's why you're going in the first place and that's okay. You're not perfect Louie, you're human and that's a part of being human." 

Louie nodded, "Makes sense, I guess there's some wrong with all of us." 

"Well then," Huey spoke up looking at both of them, "It's a good thing we have each other." His siblings agreed and Louie leaned back between the two of them. 

"We'll always have each other, right?" Their brothers looked at him, 

"Right." They nodded and turned back to the TV satisfied so the other two did too. Ok, Dewey thought, so despite the rough beginning of the day it hadn't turned out so bad, he certainly felt more useful then he did this morning. But he still had some doubts, he still felt like there was more he could do.  

* * *

The next day Dewey was hanging out in his room when the door suddenly slammed open. He jumped up and looked to see Huey angrily standing there; he slammed the door close and started pacing. 

"Dude?" Dewey questioned after a few moments making Huey turn to him in surprise and sigh. 

"Sorry, I'm just mad."

Dewey snorted, "Obviously. What about?" 

He rubbed his head, "Everything. I've just been so stressed out lately." 

Dewey hopped down to the floor and landed next to him, "Why?"

Huey glared at him, "Why? What do you mean why?!" Dewey sighed and glanced away, fight. Every time. He didn't know how he could help with this, he honestly didn't know why Huey was so stressed but he knew it probably had something to do with him feeling like he was responsible for everyone. 

"I can't read your mind Huebert but I'm guessing it's you trying to be Mr. 'Responsible-For-Everyone' again." 

Huey blinked, "Something like that." 

"What so just because you're the oldest you have to be like super dependable?"

"Yes!"

"The whole world doesn't rest on your shoulders Huey!" Huey gaped at him, "You don't have to carry everyone burdens just because of your place in the triplet hierarchy." 

"Everyone's counting on me-"

"You're ten Huebert they shouldn't be. You're still a kid, don't let them take that away for you, don't let you take that away from you. You don't have to do it alone that's what siblings are for." He placed a hand on him, "We're here for you Huey you just have to let us be." 

Huey grinned and hugged him, "Thank you. You know you're better at this than you think." He noticed, of course he noticed. Dewey brushed him off and let go of him, Huey gave him a look but dropped it.  

"Feeling better?" He asked hopefully making Huey smile, 

"Yeah, thanks to you Dewdrop."

Dewey groaned and pushed him, "No, that nickname cannot be back."

"But it's a good one!" Huey smirked then rubbed his head, he pushed him again annoyed but was glad he was feeling better. And glad he could do something to help, maybe he wasn't as bad of a brother as he thought, maybe he was useful after all. 

That made him really happy. 

Until that night at least.

The night was the hardest, just ask Louie, at nighttime you really were alone with your thoughts and there was nothing to keep you from thinking. He didn't know why he kept going back to that thought lately, it was just something that was happening, no matter what he did to convince himself otherwise it just kept popping up! It was like he was stuck in some sort of rut that he couldn't get himself out of no matter how hard he tried. He sighed and turned over in his bed, seemed like he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, his mind just kept running and who was the best with dealing with that kinda stuff? 

Louie. 

He quietly climbed down to their bunk and gently tried to shake them awake but it took a couple of shakes before they started to stir. They looked at him annoyed before sitting up, 

"How do you stop your mind from racing?" He asked before they could say anything and they shrugged, 

"You don't, why?" 

He silently groaned and plopped onto their bed, "I'm tired, I want sleep, but it won't stop!" 

"Mood." 

He glared at them, "Help!" 

They sighed, "Sometimes watching something helps me," They held up their phone enticingly, "I have Ottoman Empire episodes on here." 

"Move over." 

A little while later Louie had fallen asleep, Dewey smiled as he covered them with their blanket. He moved to get up but they snuggled closer to him so he resigned to his fate and got comfortable. He was just about to fall asleep, his mind finally shut off when Louie started twitching around. He had known them long enough to know what that meant so he pulled them close to him and started stroking their head. A few minutes later they had calmed down and fell back into a peaceful sleep, he settled back in then fell asleep with one thought in his mind, 

He was the only one who could calm Louie down like that when they were having a nightmare, 

Maybe he was a good brother after all. 

 


	27. Sick Part 1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey knows something's wrong with Louie.  
> Set during Sick Part 1.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys trying something new with this chapter which is basically setting a previous fic in someone else's point of view, let me know if you like it!

Dewey woke up that morning feeling like something was off, he wasn't sure what but he knew something was. When Huey went to make sure he was up he didn't seem off but he also knew Huey was notorious for hiding things so he wasn't letting him off the hook yet. He knew they weren't in any real hurry so he took his time waking up, as did Louie apparently. He hopped out of his bed a couple of moments later and started getting ready as Huey rewoke their sibling.  

"Did you guys finish the science homework?" Dewey said as he struggled to put on his shirt, "Cause I gotta tell ya, I did not." 

"Ya I did, Louie?" Louie jumped and Dewey narrowed his eyes as Huey continued to talk, looked like it was Louie that was off but he couldn't be too certain just yet. They could just be taking a long time to wake up he reasoned, he knew he still wasn't fully awake. They then made their way down to breakfast where he eagerly sat down and dug in, as he ate he noticed Louie wasn't eating much and frowned, he hoped this wasn't one of their bad days. 

"Arentcha gonna eat?" Dewey asked calmly attempting to hide his worry, the last thing he wanted was to upset them. 

They shook their head, "Not hungry." 

"You okay?" Huey asked worriedly. 

"Fine just not hungry." He nodded and went back to eating but Dewey looked at them for a couple of seconds deciding whether or not to say anything but when they tensed up he dropped it. After breakfast Donald rounded them into the car and drove them to school; as they rode he still hadn't fully woken up so when Huey accidentally elbowed him he got annoyed and elbowed him back. They started fighting which annoyed him even more but it did help wake him up so it was a good thing? 

He didn't know, it was too early to know anything.

However Dewey couldn't help but notice Louie was being really quiet this morning, normally they would gotten them to stop fighting by now, they had little patience for it especially in the morning. That was the third sign something was wrong with them, he was starting to get really worried but still thought they were just having a bad day. Not that he could blame them, sometimes it just happened nothing anyone could do about it. He knew he should probably ask them but it wasn't the first one they had or the first one they tried to power through so he knew it probably wasn't a big deal. 

When they got to school he and Huey had gotten out of the car when they heard their Uncle call Louie's name. As they waited for them to finish they looked at each other and wondered what it was about. 

"Hey does Louie seem, off today?" 

"You noticed it too! I don't know if it's anything to worry about, they would've said something right?" Dewey agreed but internally wasn't so sure, they hated making other people worry about them. But he chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, for now. Louie got out of the car and stood next to them as their Uncle drove off. 

"What was that about?" 

They looked at Huey, "Just wanted to make sure I was good with being stuck with you two dorks all day." They said with a smirk and he rolled his eyes as the three of them walked into school. 

As class went on he got bored, he hated Social Studies and having it first was like some kind of torture. So, as he did when he was usually bored, he turned his attention to his siblings; Huey was diligently writing everything down to his not surprise and Louie was, well they didn't look too good. It was clear they were struggling to stay awake and as he looked closer he noticed the tell-tell signs of a sick person and sighed, of course they wouldn't say anything. 

They noticed him watching them they gave him a questioning look but he just continued to study them wondering if they would say anything about being sick. 

'What?' They mouthed instead so he shrugged and turned back to the board, this wasn't good. 

He didn't know why they felt the need to hide everything but he was starting to get real tired of it. They weren't supposed to keep anything from each other, he was aware he was being a bit of a hypocrite but chose not to focus on it, and he didn't like that Louie was. But he knew that if he said something right now they would get confrontational and that would just make things worse so he didn't say anything.

Which he would come to regret later. 

* * *

By the time it was almost lunch Dewey was really worried about Louie, they had gotten called out twice for not paying attention, it was clear they were getting worse but they still refused to say something. It was making him really mad, they were suffering and it seemed like there was nothing he could do about it. He thought about saying something to Huey but after their talk this morning he seemed convinced there was nothing seriously wrong and that they were just having a bad day. 

Dewey nudged them and handed them the worksheets, they grabbed one and handed the rest to Huey who took them with a smile. Dewey then started to get to work looking at his sibling every few seconds, it looked like they were having a hard time concentrating. He felt another jolt of anger flow through him and he tried to focus on his worksheet but failed after Louie asked to go to the bathroom, that couldn't be good. 

He shared a look with Huey after they left, "What is going on with them?" Dewey just shook his head, he wanted to say something but felt like it wasn't his place, he knew they had to be the one to say it he just hoped it wouldn't go too far. 

"I don't know Hue," He lied biting back a gulp, "I really don't." 

"Any idea what's been going on with them lately? I know we know some things but I feel like there's more they aren't telling us." 

"I don't and it's killing me." He revealed looking down, "I don't know what to do Huey, I don't know how to help them, I just wish they trusted us." 

"They do, I know they do and so do you. They'll talk when they're ready, let's just hope things don't get too rough." Their conversation died when Louie came back in and sat down. The rest of the class Dewey spent on his worksheet trying not to think too hard about his sibling and whatever was going on with them. By the time the bell rang most students rushed off but Louie wasn't in a hurry so their brothers waited for them. 

"I don't know about you guys," Dewey said as they walked to the lunchroom, "But I thought that worksheet was stupidly hard, like almost impossible."

"It was easy if you paid attention."

"See that's what always gets me." Huey rolled his eyes but Dewey ignored him and opened up his locker. He noticed Louie was hesitant to get their lunch so he raised an eyebrow at them, he knew they didn't eat breakfast so he hoped they would have some lunch. After they finished at the lockers they headed to the lunchroom and sat down at the first empty table they saw. 

"So," Dewey started, "Are you gonna help us with the science homework now, professor Huey?"

"Don't call me that and yes but I'm only helping not doing it for you."

Dewey put a hand on his chest, "I am hurt Hubert we would never." 

Huey rolled his eyes, "Sure, so it's really simple photosynthesis is the process used by mostly plants to convert light energy into chemical energy."

"I'm already lost."

"How?" What did he mean how? Was he seriously not aware that not everyone was as smart as him?

"What is light energy?"

"The sun Dewey!"  

"How was I supposed to know that?!" He turned to Louie, "Did you know that?!" They nodded and he sighed planting his face on the table. Huey started helping Louie with the harder questions which he would in no way ever attempt, he was sure they were extra credit anyway. He began using big words and completely lost Dewey, 

"What?" He asked at the same time as Louie. Huey explained and confirmed that they were extra credit, he got annoyed and looked at the both of them. 

"I still need help!" Huey started helping him but he blocked him out after a few seconds and looked at Louie who was attempting to eat. After a few seconds they suddenly got up and ran off, 

"Louie!" He and Huey called but they ignored them so they also got up and took off after them. When they got to the bathroom they started looking for their sibling and heard throwing up so Dewey told his brother to call their Uncle as he kept searching. 

* * *

When he found them he placed a hand on them as they finished puking. He felt really bad for them but thought that it was kind of impressive that they lasted this long. 

"Huey's calling Uncle Donald," Dewey explained as he helped them up, "He's gonna come get you and then you are going home and to bed so you can get better. Why didn't you tell us?" He asked quietly.

"Didn't want you to worry." 

"I think it's pretty obvious by now that we always worry about you and apparently we gotta figure things out on our own since you don't tell us this stuff." 

"How long have you known?" Louie asked with a groan,

"Since first period." He answered truthfully and wasn't surprised that they weren't surprised, Dewey had always known his siblings like the back of his hand. 

"'m Sorry." 

Dewey shook his head, "I don't care about that right now I just want you to get better." And it was true, he may have been mad earlier but now he was just worried.  

Huey walked in and looked at the two of them, "He said he'll be here in 10 minutes and that we should wait in the office. I'll get your stuff, Dewey help them down there?" Dewey nodded and shifted them slightly before they started walking. Huey split off from them and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they got to the office Dewey helped Louie into a chair and went to talk to the receptionist, 

"Hi yeah my sibling's sick and my Uncle's coming to pick them up, can we wait here?" She nodded and he walked back to his siblings, 

"Don't you guys wanna go finish eating?"

"We're fine and we're not leaving till we know you're safe."  

A few minutes later Donald rushed in and looked around for his kids, when he spotted them he went over to them and started fussing over Louie who weakly batted him away. The receptionist coughed and Donald made his way over to her to check Louie out once he did that their brothers gave them a light hug and told them to get some rest before going back to the lunch room. 

The walk back was silent and when they got there neither felt like eating, they just wanted the day to be over. 

"How long did you know?" Huey asked quietly and he looked down, 

"First period."

"So you lied to me?!" 

"I'm sorry! I thought- I knew Louie had to be the one to say something! No matter how much I wanted to...." 

Huey sighed, "Louie's the one who waited, you didn't know it'd get that bad." 

"I hoped it wouldn't." 

"I know." 

After lunch they went to math much to his disappointment, he really hated math, and english, all school really. He hoped this class would fly by, he really wanted to go home. He knew that Louie wouldn't be fully comfortable until both of their brothers were with them. That's how of all them were when they were sick or hurt or anything other than healthy.

Dewey looked at his brother to see how he was doing and saw he was working on the worksheet, he rolled his eyes and wondered how he could possibly focus on school at a time like this. He tried to get his attention but failed and sighed before trying to do the sheet, he got confused and gave up after a few minutes as he waited for the bell to ring. He thumped his pencil against his desk and ignored the annoyed looks he got until the teacher said something, not wanting to get in trouble, he stopped.  

Science class flew by much to his relief as all they were doing was watching a video, he paid attention as much as he could but ended up getting lost in thought. He was worried about Louie and not just cause they were sick. He knew something was really wrong with them, something they weren't talking about and it bugged him more than he liked to admit. He didn't like the fact that Louie felt like they had to keep stuff from them for some reason, he didn't know if it was because they didn't trust them or something else but he really didn't like it.

After school ended they were picked up by Launchpad and were silent the whole ride home. Dewey leaned his head on Huey and sighed, he gave him a questioning look but he shook his head. 

"Dewey what's wrong?" 

"Nothing just worried." Sensing he didn't want to talk Huey dropped it and stayed silent the rest of the way. When they got to manor the boys rushed out without a word and ran in. Dewey opened the door and the two of them ran past Webby and Mrs. Beakley who shouted after them, they ignored her and ran to their room. Huey quietly opened the door to see Donald sitting in the desk chair and Louie in their bed, completely dead to the world.

"How are they?" Huey asked quietly.

"They'll be fine they just need to rest for a few days. Be careful if you're gonna join them over there, don't need the two of you getting sick as well." They both nodded and sat down their bags before making their way to their sibling's bed laying on either side of them, they looked more content now which made their brothers smile before they also drifted off. 

But when he woke up a few hours later Dewey noticed they looked more troubled than before and sighed,

He really didn't like this. 


	28. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey finds out his brother's keeping a secret.  
> Set during season two.

Dewey was playing a game with Webby when their brother ran by, they looked after him and tried to get his attention but to no avail. A few moments later a worried Louie came into the room and they turned their attention to them. 

"I don't know what's up with him, he didn't say a word on the way home." 

Dewey nodded and attempted to comfort them, "He's probably just having a bad day, anything happen at school?" He was still fighting off his flu so to be on the safe side he stayed home, which might have been a mistake. 

"Not that I know of. Maybe we should talk to him?" 

"Let's wait a few minutes, you're it!" He lightly poked them and ran off as Webby quickly followed. Louie shrugged off their backpack and went after them; after they played for a few minutes the three of them went to check on Huey. Dewey knocked on the door then waited for an answer and knocked again annoyed when he didn't get one. When this happened a third time he gave up and opened the door then went in without seeing if the others were behind or not. 

"Huey we need to talk!" Huey jumped and looked at him from his bed before sighing and going back to his book. 

"Heeelloo! I'm talking to yooou."

Huey slammed his book, "There's nothing to talk about, I'm just having a bad day." 

"If that were true you would have said something," Louie pointed out, "Come on, talk to us." 

Huey sighed again and hopped down to their level, "It's nothing, really. I'm sorry for worrying you guys but I really am just having a bad day, that's all." His siblings looked at each other and didn't say anything, "You guys know I would tell you if something was up, plus I'm a horrible liar, there's no way I'd be able to hide something from you guys!" 

"It's true. You do suck." Dewey smirked and lightly shoved him, "Thanks for worrying us, dork." He teased. 

"No problem, weirdo." Huey replied teasingly back, he noticed Louie looking at him and turned to them, "I'm fine Louie, really." They nodded then realized something, 

"I left my backpack downstairs, be right back!" They dashed off and their brothers rolled their eyes fondly as they shook their heads. 

"So what'd you guys do all day?" Huey asked as he went to his own backpack and rummaged through it, he handed Dewey his homework as he answered, 

"Mostly just played games; tag, hide and seek. How was school?" 

"Great!" 

"Boring." Louie interjected as they came back, "Nothing but lectures and tests." 

"So a good day to miss, noted." Louie nodded as they threw their bag on their bed and plopped down next to it. Dewey looked through the papers that were handed to him and sighed as he turned to his brother, 

"You can help me with this stuff right?" 

Huey jumped out of his thoughts, "Maybe later I'm kinda busy right now." Dewey furrowed his eyebrows at that, Huey was never to busy to help them, maybe something was going on with him after all. 

Dewey sighed, 'you miss school for one day' he thought then noticed how quiet Webby had been and got her attention, 

"You okay?" 

She nodded, "Yeah just thinking." 

"About?" 

"Nothing," She said with a quick glance towards Huey who was back in his bed reading. Dewey nodded in understanding and jerked his head towards the door they then both looked at Louie who shrugged and got off their bed. The three of them walked in the hall and silently closed the door, 

"What's up Webs?" 

She looked at the two of them, "I don't think Huey's telling the whole truth, he seems off and maybe I don't know him as well as you guys do but something's wrong." 

The other two looked at each other, "Yeah I noticed it too, he's never too busy to help us." 

Louie hesitated and placed their hands in their pockets anxiously, "I don't know guys why would he lie? It's not like him." 

Dewey turned to them, "Exactly." 

* * *

Dewey observed Huey acting weird for a few days after that as well, he avoided them at home and dodged them whenever he could at school. It was starting to anger him especially when he noticed how effected Louie was by it. So he decided to say something, 

"Huey, what's up?" He asked as they did their homework, it was one of the few times he saw him lately. Huey looked at him and tapped his paper trying to get him to get back to work or in other words drop it, it didn't work.

"No seriously what is up with you? You've been avoiding us lately and you won't tell us why, which is not like you at all! This is the most I've seen you all day and it's really weird, you're not one to pull away, especially from us so what is going on?" 

"Noth-"

"Don't you dare say nothing!" 

Huey scrunched his face as he looked down, "I can't tell you, please just drop it." He pleaded trying not to cry which made Dewey's anger fade immediately, this was more than just avoiding them, this was serious.

What couldn't he tell them? 

Huey was the one who always told them everything, there wasn't anything he felt he had to keep from them, not until now. He was the one who always pushed them to tell the truth and to not keep anything from any of them, so why was he now keeping something from them? It didn't make sense but he was gonna figure it out. 

While he was lost in thought he hadn't noticed Huey had started tearing up but when he did he quickly started to comfort him. He put an arm around his brother and rubbed his arm as he cried, "Why can't you tell us?"

"I just can't, please understand that." 

"No, Huey you're crying! I'm not just gonna sit here and not let you tell me why!" 

Huey sighed and tried to push him away but he wouldn't budge, he wasn't moving until he knew what was wrong and he knew Huey knew that, "Please, I can't stand to see you like this, let me help." Dewey pleaded trying not to cry himself but when he still didn't say anything he sighed, "Do you want me to go get Louie?" 

Huey quickly looked up at him, "No! Don't do that!" Dewey jumped back in shock, "They have enough going on just, give me a second." Dewey nodded and waited for him to collect himself when he did he looked at him, 

"I didn't wanna tell any of you," Huey made clear before he said anything else knowing his brother too well, "But I guess I don't have a choice, for the past few weeks I've been getting bullied." He admitted stunning Dewey into silence until he got angry, 

"Weeks?! Why didn't you say anything?!" 

Huey looked down, "He said he would hurt you guys too if I told anyone." He said quietly and Dewey sighed, oh Huey, always the oldest brother. Always feeling like he had to protect them even at his own cost. 

"You shouldn't have kept this to yourself, we have to tell our Uncles." Huey didn't say anything, "Please they can fix this, he won't mess with any of us anymore." Huey nodded and Dewey went to find their Uncles, running into Louie and Webby on the way. He sent them to the den where their brother was and continued on his way; when he found their Uncles they were in the middle of a conversation that paused when they noticed him. 

"I found out what's wrong with Huey." 

He explained everything to them, from how someone had been bullying Huey for weeks to how he didn't say anything because he didn't want Dewey and Louie to get hurt. When Dewey finished he could tell his Uncle's were struggling to keep a hold on their temper, he completely understood as he felt the same.

"You guys can fix this right?" He said looking at them hopefully, they looked at each other and then him, 

"Yes we will absolutely fix this, where's Huey now?" 

"Den." 

"Let's go see him." 

* * *

When they got to the den they saw Huey being comforted by his other siblings who looked up when they heard them come in. Huey glanced up as well and Donald came over to the couch and kneeled down to his level, as soon as he did that Huey hugged him. Dewey joined them on the couch and the other two looked at him and gave a small smile he gave one back as he patiently waited to see what would happen next. 

After Donald pulled away from Huey he kept an arm on his shoulder as he talked, "Huey you should've told us, I know you did it to protect to your siblings but you didn't have to suffer like that. You can always come to us with something like this, we're your guardians we're supposed to protect you, no more keeping things like this from us, okay?" 

"Okay. I'm sorry guys, I should've said something sooner. And I'm sorry for lying it was wrong, I shouldn't have done it." They all accepted his apology as Donald got off the floor and shared a look with Scrooge. 

"Ay believe we have a few calls ta make." He nodded at the kids and went to his office but Donald hesitated for a moment,

"That extends to the rest of you as well; don't hide things like this from us, we're here to help you, understand?" 

"Yes Uncle Donald." They chorused and he left satisfied. After that the others turned to Huey and waited for him to talk but he stared at them confused instead so Dewey spoke up, 

"How are you doing Hue?" 

"Fine considering, I guess I was too worried about him getting to you guys to focus on what he was saying. I've heard most of it before anyways, I'm just glad something's getting done about this." 

"But what if the school doesn't do anything?" Webby spoke up curiously; the triplets shared a glance before Louie answered her. 

"Then Uncle Donald will burn the school down." They said with a smirk as their brothers chuckled and Webby smiled in response. 

"So much for not being able to keep anything from us, huh?" Louie suddenly commented making Huey sigh, 

"That's fair. I didn't like lying, it felt awful like spiders crawling over you." 

"I hate that feeling." Dewey agreed but then paused, "So why you'd do it? I mean like you could've said something then but you chose not to. Why?" 

"I told you why; I know I could've ended it then but I just chose not to, I couldn't risk it." 

"Next time do risk it, you don't have to get hurt to protect us, we don't want you to." Louie nodded in agreement and Huey smiled at the both of them then hugged all of them, 

"Thank you guys." 

The next day instead of dropping them off at school Donald went in with them and went to the office with Huey as his siblings waited outside anxiously. A few minutes later a tough looking dog came down and saw the two of them and glared, 

"You! I told you're brother what would happen if he told!" He started to charge towards them so Dewey got in front of his sibling more than ready for a fight. The dog was about to throw a punch when the office door swung open, 

"Francis!" The principal yelled, 'Francis' backed away from them as they snickered and went into the office giving them an 'I'm watching look' as he went. After he left the other two started hollering with laughter before Louie lightly nudged Dewey in the side after a few seconds and pointed to the door that they were still outside of. He slowly stopped laughing and plopped down in a chair as he wiped his eye, 

"Oh wow Francis, what a name!" 

Louie sat down next to him then stared at him. He raised an eyebrow so they said something, "You were gonna fight a bully for me." 

He looked at them confused, "Of course I was, you're my sibling Lou." They hugged him and thanked him, he hugged them back but refused to be thanked; he was just doing what a good brother does, nothing to be thanked for. A few minutes later Huey and Donald stepped out of the office so they both quickly went over to them and waited for the verdict. 

"He's getting suspended but his parents said they were pulling him from this school, apparently this isn't the first time this has happened and they agreed to send him somewhere that would help with his problems. You kids don't have to worry about him anymore." The triplets cheered in response and hugged their Uncle. When they pulled away Dewey and Louie looked at their brother, 

"What was it like in there?"  

"Pretty intense but necessary." They both nodded understandingly as Donald looked at his phone and let out a startled quack when he saw the time. 

"I'm gonna be late!" He quickly hugged his kids and ran out to his car, they looked after him and laughed. Huey then also noticed the time and started pulling his siblings to their lockers, 

"We don't wanna be late too." 

"Sure we do." Dewey disagreed as he was hauled along. He and Louie shared a look afterwards and agreed, 

They were glad their brother was back to normal.


	29. Fighting Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey gets in a 'fight' with one of his siblings.  
> Set during season two.

The triplets were rudely woken up by Scrooge that morning as he barged into their room. They all jumped out of their beds in fright and glared at him but he paid them no mind as he started talking, 

"Alright kiddos time ta get up!" 

Dewey moaned as he planted his face in his pillow, "Why?" 

"Adventure o' course! Why else?!" Dewey perked up at that and hopped out of his bed, he started getting dressed quickly as Scrooge explained where they were going. 

"Blackborough, a town famous fer its mysterious origins as in there are none! It just popped up ane day!" Huey was about to say something against that but then decided it was too early and went to get his sibling out of bed instead. But rather than getting up like they all expected Louie just chose to bury themself in the blanket and ignore him. Dewey frowned not understanding why they would want to stay in bed, 

"Come on Lou-Lou don't you wanna go?" 

They groaned, "No, believe it or not, I'd rather stay here." 

He looked at them incredulously and disregarded Huey frantically shaking his head at him, "Why?" 

"Because I want to, why do I need a reason?" 

Scrooge, sensing this was becoming something bad, quickly tried to intervene, "If ye want ta stay here ye can no ane's makin' yew go." 

"Great." They turned back over as Huey pulled Dewey away from the bed and started shoving him out the door. 

"We'll see you later, call us if you need anything." Huey said grabbing his bag and putting it on. 

"Can do." He nodded and walked out meeting up with the others in the hall. Dewey tapped his foot angrily as their Uncle started telling them more about Blackborough. He couldn't understand why Louie would rather stay in bed all day than go on an awesome adventure but sometimes he doesn't really get Louie so he pushed that aside. No, he was really mad that they would rather stay in bed than hang out with their brothers, everything was funner when it was the three of them, they hardly did anything without each other! 

He stared at Huey to see if he was feeling similarly but he was just listening to their Uncle. Dewey sighed and glanced back at their door, he was not looking forward to this at all. 

"Aren't you excited Dewey?" His brother asked as they walked down the stairs, he noticed the shift in Dewey's attitude since they left their room and was worried. 

"I guess." Huey frowned and waited to see if he would say anything else, his frown deepened when he didn't,

"You guess?" 

Dewey sighed again, "Yeah I mean I was excited, when I thought we were all going..." 

Huey nodded in understanding, "I know, it's weird doing things just the two of us but if Louie would rather stay here we have to respect their wishes." 

"Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." Dewey went silent after that even after Webby showed up and tried talking to him, he didn't mean to be mean to them he just didn't have anything to say. He continued his silence as they got on the plane and took off, he thought about texting Louie for a second before dismissing that as a bad idea, they would probably just get annoyed at him and he wasn't sure he could be too nice to them right now. That turned out not to matter however as he got a text that next moment, 

'Are you mad at me?' He had to think about that one, he wasn't sure he was mad more like upset but he was also mad in a way? And now he was confusing himself so he just went with his gut and responded, 

'Yes.' 

A few seconds later his phone went off again, 'Talk when you get home?' 

'Sure.' 

* * *

Dewey was feeling a little better as they got to the town, he was glad they were gonna talk things out. That was the thing about arguing with Louie it never really turned into fighting they had always preferred to talk things out, it wasn't a bad way a doing things to be honest. Certainly better than his method of saying whatever he thought and not worrying about the consequences. 

As they were going through town he started to notice Huey on his phone glancing up at him every few seconds then looking back down; after the third time he noticed it  happen he began to get annoyed, 

"What's going on Huebert?" Huey looked up at him surprised, 

"Huh? Oh nothing." 

"Then why do you keep looking at me then your phone? That's pretty suspicious you know."

"Look it's really nothing I'm just talking to Louie." 

"About me." 

"Nothing bad!" Huey was quick to assure, "They're just kind of annoyed at you right now? For being mad at them." 

Dewey looked at his brother in disbelief, "I have every right to be mad! They ditched us!" 

"No," Huey started calmly, "They wanted to stay home, that's not ditching us that's not wanting to be here." 

"With us." 

"It's not the same thing!" He insisted but Dewey was done listening, it was pretty clear to him that they were being ditched. And that wasn't cool especially not from your own sibling. 

He suddenly wasn't so sure he wanted to talk things out anymore. 

As they continued through the town Dewey got madder and madder, he couldn't believe Louie didn't wanna hang out with them! What'd they ever do to them? Nothing he could think of so why didn't they want to? Did they just not like them anymore? No, that wasn't possible Louie still worried too much about if their brothers cared about them to not like them. So what was it then? 

And why were they texting Huey about it? 

Realistically he thought that maybe they weren't and were choosing not to tell anyone again but the mad part of his mind said otherwise and that was a pretty big part right now. He had no choice but to listen to it! No matter how much the other rational side of his brain he dubbed the Huey side otherwise stated. In his mind, Louie didn't wanna hang out with them anymore and wasn't telling only him about it for some reason. 

"Are you doing that Dewey thing where you jump irrational conclusions again?" Webby's voice cut through his thoughts and he gawked at her, 

"No, I don't Dewey that I'm reasonable!" 

"Not when you're mad." She calmly pointed out making his gawk turn into a glare, in the back of his mind he knew she had a point but was too mad to care which, ironically enough, proved her point. 

"I'm not mad I'm frustrated."

"Same thing." 

"Not according to Huey." She nodded understandingly and he quirked his lip as he tried not to laugh. After that they fell silent again as they watched Scrooge argue with one of the locals over something, he tried to follow along but found he didn't care too much so instead he got a good look at the town. He knew he would probably be more interested in it if all of them were there but for some reason he didn't think Louie would be. Which he for the life of him could not understand, it was a town that came out of nowhere for crying out loud! What was not interesting about that?! 

Sometimes he thought he and his siblings were too different and that thought worried him more than anything.

* * *

Dewey's first thought when they got home was to find his sibling which he promptly did, in the same spot they were in when they left. He pursed his lips at that but didn't say anything yet, at least they were awake. He silently closed the door and made his way over to the bunk, 

"Hey."

Louie looked up, "Hey." They said back, it fell into an awkward silence after that as they both tried to think of something to say. Dewey had lost most of his anger on the way home but was still upset, he thought it'd be best to start by voicing his opinion about all of this only he didn't get a chance, 

"You can be a real jerk sometimes you know?" Louie started not looking up from their phone Dewey glared and waited for them to continue, "Like it wasn't a big deal that I wanted to stay home until you made it one, everyone else was completely fine with it why weren't you?"

"Cause!" He faltered, "Cause it felt like you were ditching us, you'd rather stay here than hang out with us." 

Louie sighed and sat up in their bed then patted the spot next to them. He sat and waited for their response, "It's not like that, I love hanging out with you guys. Sometimes I just need to stay in bed like I need to recharge or I'll burn out." 

"Like a phone."

"Exactly! It's nothing against you guys but I'm sorry if it felt like I ditched you that's the last thing I wanted."

"No I know that! I'm sorry too, I jumped to conclusions, don't tell Webby though she'd never let me live it down," They nodded and he took a deep breath, "Why were you texting Huey about me behind my back?" 

"I needed to vent." 

"Were you telling him why you didn't wanna come?" 

"He already knew." 

"Of course he did," Dewey said bitterly, "Leave it to me to be the last one to know!" 

"Dewey..." 

"No seriously why didn't I know? I'm supposed to know you, you're my sibling for crying out loud!" Louie just stared at him, "I'm sorry it's just really been bugging me but that's not your fault and not what we're talking about. I guess I just think that the three of us are too different and how are we supposed to be the Duck kids if we're too different?" 

"Same way we've always been, by liking being around each other and not letting our differences get in the way of that." 

He fell back against the bed, "You're right of course you're right. I'm sorry about today I'll try to be more understanding and I won't jump to any more conclusions."

Louie fell back next to him, "Yes you will it's okay, you wouldn't be you if you didn't." 

"I guess that's true, we good?" Dewey asked hopefully.

"We're good. But one more thing," He watched them curiously, "You understand me very well," They said seriously which made him grin as he turned his gaze to his bunk. 

"You understand me too." And he didn't have to look to know they were smiling. 

He knew his siblings well, that was one thing he was sure of. 


	30. Dewey the Worrier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey worries about his siblings.  
> Set during season two.

Dewey usually didn't worry about things that was more his siblings' speed but he did worry about them, a lot. He couldn't help it, it seemed like something was always up with them, especially lately and while they had gotten better at saying when something was wrong that didn't mean they always did something about it. 

Like now for example. 

Huey had been in their room all day and hadn't come out for anything, not even to eat, which wasn't like him at all! So he decided to do something about it and barged in there without giving it a second thought. Huey looked up from their desk and sighed when he saw who it was, 

"Yes Dewey?" 

"Why have none of us seen you all day?" 

"I've been busy." Dewey looked at their desk which was cluttered with books and paper then sighed, looked like Huey was in one of those moods again. He started pulling him away from the desk but Huey held on. 

"I have a lot of work to do today Dewford." 

"You need a break Huebert and we both know I'm not leaving till you take one." 

Huey sighed, "Five minutes." He tried not to smile as Dewey let out a cheer he then spun around to face his brother. "What do you have in mind?"

Dewey handed him a granola bar, "Snack break. I know you have eaten all day and I don't have to tell you of all people how important it is to eat." 

He took it gratefully and smiled at his brother in thanks. After he ate he threw his trash in their bin and tried to get back to work but Dewey stopped him again,  

"Dude come on no way that was five minutes, what's so important about whatever you're working on anyway?" 

"Nothing I just... want to get it done, today." 

Dewey looked at everything, "Whatever this is can wait till tomorrow. You've been working all day, it's time to call it." Huey shook his head and turned back around which annoyed his brother greatly, he hated when Huey got in this mood there was nothing he could do to stop him. 

Well, almost nothing. 

The only thing that could really pull Huey out of it was being a big brother, the one thing he and Louie could count on was Huey always being there for them. Always. 

"Actually," He rubbed his neck, "The real reason I wanted you to stop was so I could talk to you about something but you're too busy, I guess I'll go find Uncle Donald or something."

Huey sighed, "No don't do that, if you wanted to talk you could've said something sooner." 

"Right I'll remember that next time. Anyways I don't know I guess I've been feeling kinda down lately? Like one bad thing happens and it ruins my entire day, I don't know what to do." There was actually some truth to this, he was trying to help Huey but if he got something out of it well that was just a perk. 

Huey hummed in thought, "Well you could remember that bad things happen all the time so much in fact that we forget about the good, if you try to focus on the good then it turns into a good day." 

Dewey patted him on the back, "That's some good advice bro, now take mine. Don't overwork yourself all it leads to is tiredness, this is nothing that can't wait till tomorrow. It'll still be there and no one will think any less of you for stopping." 

Huey gave him a weak grin, "Thanks you're right," He got up and closed the books, "I'm done for the day, come on let's go see what the others are up to." 

"Yes!" He ran out of the room but paused and waited for his brother to join him then ran back in when he didn't. 

"I was just cleaning up!" Huey protested. 

"Tomorrow!" Dewey said as he dragged him off, he continued to protest but Dewey just ignored him used to it by now. 

Brothers, what could you do? 

* * *

It goes without saying that he also worried about Louie, everyone did but he also knew them better than most so he didn't really worry until he knew there was cause for it and no matter what the others said there was no cause right now. They were fine, he knew they were fine and so did Huey and Uncle Donald basically everyone that had grown up with them and that was all that mattered, to him anyways he knew Louie was a different story. 

Which was proven to him after they ran into their room, he looked up from his phone when he heard them and watched as they paced. He chose not to interfere hoping they could solve this one on their own but when he saw the signs of a panic attack coming he quickly lept into action. 

"Breathe Louie breathe." He carefully put a hand on them and led them to their bed as he kept talking comfortingly. Eventually they calmed down which made him sigh in relief, for a minute there it looked really bad. Louie groaned and put their head in their hands, 

"I was doing so good." 

"What happened?" 

"Everyone is worrying about me and asking if I'm okay, it's all too much. No matter how many times I've said I'm fine they still pester me; it feels like there isn't anything I can do to stop them! I know they're coming from a good place and I know it's just because they care but they just don't get that I'm fine, or I was fine now I'm just all anxious again." Dewey felt a jolt of anger rush through him, this wasn't fair why did Louie have to suffer just because they didn't know how to listen?! 

"We've been here for like half a year and it feels like they still don't know anything about us huh?" 

"Exactly!" 

"But," He continued, "You wanna know a secret? I wasn't worried about you, I knew you were doing fine so did Huey and Uncle Donald. We know you best Louie and we know when you're not okay and in time so will they." 

Louie threw themself back on their bed, "I was getting better, I was having a lot of good days and now I'm back to square one and it sucks. I don't know if I can do it again, it's so hard..."

Dewey stared at them, "Of course you can you're Louie Duck! Besides I hear the first time is the hardest and it's not like your alone, you'll always have us." 

"Yeah? Well right now Louie Duck doesn't feel so great and they could really use some help." 

Dewey laid next to them, "Anything they need. I mean it, you want me to go yell at everyone? I totally will." 

Louie laughed, "Maybe, we'll see." 

"I'll take it!" He pumped his fist and playfully jumped on them glad they were in a better mood and as they play wrestled with him he could tell they were too. They stopped after a few minutes and laid on Louie's bed trying to catch their breaths. When he managed to he overlooked his sibling and tried to determine if he should be worried about them or not, they seemed to be a little better now so he chalked it up to a bad moment. 

"But seriously, I will yell at them." 

Louie lightly pushed him, "I know you will dork, I'm better now, I think. I hope. I guess I just have to accept that some people will never really understand me but that's okay, as long as I have you guys and Uncle Donald I know I'll be fine." 

"Good, I'm glad you know that." 

"Me too, I've gone from thinking I don't have anybody to knowing I have you guys." 

"Well that's what I call progress." 

"It is isn't it? Wow mind opener." Dewey turned to see them staring wide-eyed at his bunk and smiled. He was really proud of them, they had come so far but he would probably proud of them no matter what, just as long as they were trying. That's all that mattered to him. 

"I think you're gonna be okay Louie." 

They turned to him hopefully, "You do?" 

His grin widened, "Yerp." 

"Okay," They nodded, "Okay, that's, great. Thanks Dewdrop." They smirked and he glared at them as they laughed, 

"I am gonna kill Huey!" They laughed harder as he angrily pouted but in truth he wasn't too mad, not if it got Louie laughing again.  

* * *

The only person he didn't worry about was himself which might've been a mistake but he hadn't made one in a while so he figured he was overdue. To be fair to him this kinda snuck up on him, he wasn't looking for it it just happened. 

Because bad things always seem to happen to him. 

He was kinda glad for it actually, better him than the others. They didn't deserve to deal with all this stuff, he wasn't saying he did but he also wasn't saying he didn't. Whatever. He didn't know anymore. He supposed this was kinda a bad time to be thinking about these things, he should be thinking of a way out of this room he was trapped in but ADHD was a really bad thing.

'Okay Dewey focus, everyone else is probably really worried about you.' Let's see the first logical thing to do was... see if his phone worked! He thanked God for Huey and his ramblings and quickly pulled it out. There was a weak signal but if he could get higher it would get stronger, he looked around to see if there was a way to do that but sighed when he found none. He didn't find anything in there actually which was a little weird for a temple but he shook his head before he could get too distracted by that. 

The next thing to do was... his walkie-talkie! He slapped his head, Of course! How could he forget about that? It would definitely work in here he searched the room for it, he knew he had it on him when he found that trap door so it had to be somewhere in there. After he found it he let out a cheer and turned it on, 

"Uncle Scrooge? Guys? Can you hear me?" 

"Dewey lad thank god! Are ye okay?" Scrooge's voice came through and he almost sobbed in relief, 

"Yeah yeah I'm fine where are you guys? Have you found a way to me yet?" 

"Not yet but we're close, stay try ta stay calm, we'll find ye as soon as we can. Can ye see anythin' in there? Anythin' at all?" 

"No it's almost pitch black, wait my phone!" He turned on his phone flashlight and looked around, it was as he thought before an empty room. He walked in the direction he came in from in hopes of finding a lever or something but found nothing and sighed, 

"Nothing Uncle Scrooge I'm completely stuck." 

He heard rustling on the other side before a new voice came through, "Dewey?" Huey. "Uncle Scrooge told me to try to keep you calm but we have no idea where you are, why did you have to run off like that?" 

"I don't know I got bored?" 

Huey sighed, "Of course you did," And Dewey could tell even through a walkie-talkie that he was running a hand down his face in exasperation, "Okay what about outside of the room, what do you remember from out there?" 

He thought for a moment, "... Water! I definitely heard rushing water." 

"Heard or saw?"

"Heard for sure." 

"Okay okay we can work with that, just hold tight!" 

"Not like there's anything else for me to do." The walkie-talkie switched off after that and he sighed, great he made Huey mad again. It's not like he meant to do it, he just couldn't always control what he said, another ADHD thing. 

A few minutes later he was boredly flashing his phone light when a wall opened; he got off the floor with a whoop and ran out. But didn't even make it five inches before he was tackled by his siblings. He hugged them to the best of his abilities and tried not to cry, he didn't want to admit it but he was pretty scared there for a moment. After the hug broke up he was pulled up and was met by an upset Scrooge McDuck, he gulped and waited to be reprimanded but was hugged instead. 

"Wha?" 

"Yew really worried us there fer a second lad." He looked at his siblings for confirmation and they nodded, he hung his head and hugged his Uncle back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry everyone." 

"Just try not ta do it again." 

"Sure no problem." After that Scrooge pushed all of them to the exit and to the plane, he knew no one would be in the mood to continue after that. Dewey was silent as they boarded the plane something his siblings noticed and sought to do something about. They tried to talk to him as they took their seats but he wasn't ready to talk just yet and only offered one sentence, 

"That was really scary guys." 


	31. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey deals with the aftermath of being trapped.  
> Set right after the last part of Dewey the worrier.

The first thing Dewey did when he got home was go up to his room he just wanted to be alone right now. He vaguely heard his siblings behind him but hoped they wouldn't follow him. After he climbed in his bed he flopped down and pulled out his phone to distract himself, it didn't work.

He was really scared back there, unlike other times he was completely trapped there and could do nothing but wait for the others, he had felt so, helpless! And he really didn't like feeling helpless it was right up there with feeling like he doesn't belong. He also hated worrying the others, he hadn't thought too much about it when he ran forward just that he was bored which was definitely a mistake if only he had thought about it...

No! He can't go down that road it never ends well. What happened happened now he just has to deal with it. But how? 

He didn't know he was just one boy! But he knew one thing, he wouldn't be going on adventures for a while. He didn't imagine the others would complain too much, Louie would probably be more relieved than anything, if two of them didn't wanna go they usually didn't go. Webby probably wouldn't care and find some other way to fill the time but Huey, Huey would definitely be worried. He'd say how out of character that was for him and would want to know what's wrong. But he wasn't ready to talk about what was wrong, not yet, he wasn't sure he knew what the whole problem was anyway. 

A small part of him didn't want to find out. 

Finding out meant confronting what happened and he didn't want to do that. But at the same time, he did. He knew that was the only real way to deal with it. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice that his phone kept going off with new messages, he eventually did realize and checked it. 

'2 messages from Webby. 4 messages from Louie. 6 messages and 1 call from Huey .'  He sighed and looked them over, 

'You ran off in kinda a hurry, you okay?' -W 

'Why'd you run off like that dude?' -L

'Dewey is everything okay?' -H

'Seriously why'd you run off, you freaked us out.' -L

'Dewey come on, you know you can talk to us.' -H

'At least respond!" -H

'You're starting to worrying us again, answer.' -L

'Huey's starting to get mad, you should really answer one of us.' -L

'Dewey I know you probably want to be alone but you can't not answer us, that's not cool.' -W

'Dewey what is up with you? Just answer somebody!' -H

'Fine. Do whatever you want.' -H 

Dewey sighed again and sent out a group text, 'Sorry for worrying you guys, again, I got lost in thought and didn't hear my phone. I'll talk to you later.' 

After that he pocketed his phone and didn't bother to check for replies, he knew what they were gonna say. He groaned and turned over planting his head in his arms on his pillow, he just made a bigger mess of everything like he didn't have enough on his mind. 

He stayed in his room for the rest of the day and didn't say anything when his siblings came in, he could tell they were watching him but didn't care and ignored them. He heard them talk for a few minutes before his bunk started to move, signaling they were going to bed. Then it fell silent and he let out a quiet sigh before checking his phone to see what time it was, 9 PM. He decided he should try to get some sleep and turned to get comfortable then switched positions a few moments later and moaned, 

This was gonna be a long night.

* * *

It was pitch black when Dewey jolted out of his bed, he put a hand on his chest and tried to calm himself down. He wasn't usually one to get nightmares so he didn't really know how to do that but he still tried. After a few moments he managed to get his breathing under control and fell back on his bed with a quiet groan; if that was what his siblings went through every time they had a bad dream he felt sorry for them, that was awful. He could still remember it... 

He shuddered and pushed it out of his head, thinking about it right now would do him no good. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after that so he decided to stare at Huey's bunk instead of trying. But when it was clear that was making him think of things he didn't want to he sighed and sat up again. Looked like he was right about it being a long night. He was just lucky they didn't have school tomorrow or maybe he wasn't, school would provide the perfect distraction for him and would keep his siblings occupied but he would probably be too tired to even attempt to focus. 

He knew he would be too tired tomorrow to do anything regardless. 

And so, with another sigh, he layed down again and tried to go back to sleep. Only to open his eyes a few seconds later when images of his nightmare came flooding into his mind. He exhaled, he knew what he had to do. He got out of his bed and climbed up to Huey's then shook him awake, 

"Huey." He whispered as he woke up, 

"What Dewey?" Huey groaned sluggishly sitting up and squinting angrily at him. He was still mad, great. 

"I... I had a bad dream." Dewey admitted and his brothers face soften, no matter how mad he was being a big brother always came first.  

"About today?" Dewey nodded, 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" 

Dewey rapidly shook his head, "No! I, I can't, not right now. Can we just drop it please?" 

"You came to the wrong person for that." 

"Okay, can we talk about in the morning? I just wanna get some sleep." 

Huey sighed, "Sure." He moved over and allowed Dewey to lay next to him after he did that Huey put an arm over him, "It's gonna be okay Dew." 

"Thanks." They drifted off to sleep after that and stayed asleep the rest of the night. That didn't mean Dewey wasn't exhausted when he woke up the next day and he groaned in protest to the feeling of being woken up. 

"Five more minutes Uncle Donald." 

"Wrong person." 

"...Huey?" 

"Try again." Dewey drowsily looked up to see who it was and saw Louie frowning up at him, "Huey went to get breakfast, why are you still in bed?" 

"Didn't get a lot of sleep last night." 

"It's because of yesterday, isn't it?" Louie correctly guessed and Dewey cursed, his siblings knew him too well. He sighed and hopped out of Huey's bed then shook himself awake and looked at his sibling. 

"Yerp it is, I'll tell you guys everything after we eat okay?" Louie nodded and the two of them walked downstairs. 

Breakfast was quite, at least for him he really didn't feel like talking and even if he did he would be too tired to even try. He could tell his siblings were talking about him but couldn't bring himself to care, he knew if they were in his spot he'd be the same way. He knew they were just worried. 

He was too. 

* * *

After breakfast he went into the den and waited for his siblings to follow him, he sat on the couch as Huey and Louie came in and sat next to him. It was silent for a few moments as he tried to figure out what to say. What could he say? That he was sorry? That he was scared? He was, both those things, but it was so hard to talk about, it was hard to think about. But he knew he had to do it and he knew he had to do it for himself. 

"I'm sorry, for running off yesterday, for worrying you guys, twice, and I'm... I'm scared." He quietly admitted and looked down. He felt an arm wrap around him and glanced up to see it was Huey which made him smile smally. He let out a sighed and continued,

"I was trapped in there, like fully-stuck-no-escape trapped and it freaked me out! I couldn't do anything but wait for you guys to show up and I knew you would but I was still so scared." 

"But you did do something," Huey argued, "You let us know where you were, we wouldn't have found you otherwise, that place was kinda huge. You weren't a sitting duck, you're Dewey Duck! And if you really had to get yourself out of there I know you would've."  

"... I was all alone in there." 

The other two looked at him shocked, "Dewey..." 

"I always knew I could get through anything, as long as you guys were by my side. And you weren't." 

"We were right there Dewey, we're always with you even if you can't see us." 

"We're not going anywhere." Louie added putting a hand on his arm comfortingly. He smiled at the both of them but then suddenly frowned and looked down which made the others look at him confused. 

"If I do something stupid in the future please don't leave me. Even if I deserve it, I can't... I can't not have you guys in my life. I know I'm not always the best and I can be kinda selfish and reckless sometimes but I can't be alone, I can't be without you guys." 

He looked up after they didn't say anything fearing the worst but was surprised when he saw they were about to cry. He started to say something but was cut off when they fiercely hugged him. He widened his eyes before hugging them back just as tight and crying, so that's what the whole problem was, he didn't know how to feel about that. 

After they pulled away Louie punched him, "That's for thinking we would ever leave you, or that you would do something to make us leave. Didn't we already tell you? There's nothing you could do to make us hate you and there's nothing you could do to make us leave." They smirked, "You're stuck with us bro." 

"Stuck is a poor word choice but yeah we're here to stay." 

Dewey smiled at the both of them and wiped his eyes, "Thanks guys, I really am sorry for yesterday." 

"We already forgave you Dewey." 

"But one thing is bugging me," Huey started making his siblings look at him, "Why do you always run ahead? It can't just be cause you're bored." 

Dewey shrugged, "I guess it's one of the ways I try to stand out, I can't be lumped in with you guys if I'm not with you guys." 

"Well that's faulty logic, remember the Sky Pirates thing? I had blue on my shirt and Uncle Scrooge thought I was you-"

Louie put a hand over his mouth, "What Huey means is, we're triplets, we look alike. You running ahead isn't gonna fix that." 

"Then what is?" 

"Realistically nothing, we're always gonna look alike and people who don't know us well are gonna mix us up, that's just something that comes with being a triplet. But the people who do know us well, like Uncle Donald, aren't and that's what matters." 

"You're right, both of you. I'll try to start thinking things through." 

Huey let out a sigh of relief, "Good I was afraid we were gonna have to have an intervention."

"Really?"

Louie nodded, "He wrote a speech and everything." Dewey turned to a sheepish looking Huey and grinned,

"You guys are the best." 

And that seemed to resolve the problem, for now, that was the great thing about having siblings things seemed to always get solved quickly, three heads were better than one after all. Afterward, Louie turned on the TV and the three of them started watching whatever was on but as they watched Dewey got lost in thought. He was beginning to feel better about this whole thing, he would probably have nightmares for a while and he still wouldn't be adventuring for some time but he knew as long as he had his siblings, 

He would be okay. 


	32. Dewey's Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey wonders what's been going on with Louie.  
> Set during different times in Louie's arc.

If Dewey's good at one thing it's noticing, especially noticing things about his siblings so when something became wrong with Louie, he noticed. It started with them becoming quieter, they had always been quiet before but this was completely different, weird. After they had moved into the manor Louie had become more distant and more likely to just hang out in bed or in front of the TV than with their brothers. 

And he knew it had something to do with the other occupants of the manor. 

He liked them, he really did but they kept making his sibling feel bad and that wasn't okay. Not that they would say anything, they hated worrying other people but that didn't stop him for worrying, it just made him worry more. Especially since they were in a new place, he knew they weren't that great with change and they were around people who didn't know them as well as their brothers and Uncle Donald did so it was only inevitable that they would break. 

And when they broke they broke. 

He always hated it when his sibling had a panic attack although he really didn't have a name for them until recently when they all found out Louie had anxiety. It was a scary thing to witness even more so when it was your sibling and he never knew what to do. That was more Huey's thing, not that he was complaining if he couldn't help he was glad his brother could. 

Another thing he didn't particularly like about the others is that they constantly misgendered Louie, it wasn't intentional but he saw how they cringed every time it happened. He knew they would probably be okay with it if they told them but he also knew it was Louie's decision. He would support them no matter their decision though things would be easier if they just told everyone else or maybe it wouldn't, Scrooge did seem kinda old fashioned. 

So with everything going on Dewey didn't blame his sibling for distancing themself, even if it really hurt.

Hanging out with Louie was one of his favorite things to do but if they needed some distance then he was gonna give them some. But the fact that they were distancing themself worried him more, he couldn't say it wasn't like them to do that cause it was and it normally meant something was really wrong. They never said anything when something was really wrong however so it was usually a guessing game until they fessed up. He was really thankful he knew his siblings well. 

He had correctly guessed that the others dismissal of them was bugging them more than they let on but he didn't know how to help. So, he went to Huey, 

"Something's going on with Louie and I don't know how to help." 

"You noticed it too... I think this might be too big for us Dew." Huey admitted, "I don't know how to help either, I wish I did but I don't. I think the best thing we can do right now is be there for them and let them talk when they're ready." 

Dewey nodded reluctantly, "I guess you're right, maybe, maybe we should get Uncle Donald to help us, maybe he knows something we don't." 

"Maybe, do you have any ideas on what it is?" 

He sighed and sat next to him, "I think it's because of the others, Webby and Uncle Scrooge, I know that they care about Louie but they don't always act like it. They say it doesn't bother them but you know Louie, they always care too much about what people think of them." 

"That sounds about right. I've noticed it too it's like, what just because they're a little different than us you have to treat them weirdly?" 

"I know! And they don't even try to get to know them, they can't seem to get past the greediness or the 'laziness', they think that's all there is to Louie." 

Huey nodded, "I love them and I love being here but if this continues..." He trailed off and sighed and Dewey looked at him sympathetically. This was really hard on them both,  feeling so helpless, Louie was their baby sibling they wanted nothing more than to be able to help them. But as long as they kept keeping things to themself it was impossible, but they knew their sibling, sooner or later they would say something he just had to wait until then. Well, at least he wasn't alone in all this, 

"Least we have each other." He offered with a small smile and a shrug. Huey smiled back, 

"Least we have each other indeed." 

He still worried though, especially during the thunderstorm incident. Very few things could shake his sibling up that bad, he knew they had always been scared of storms but that was something else entirely. They looked terrified and they didn't look that way often, he felt that older brother urge Huey was always talking about at that moment. He wanted nothing more than to wrap them up and protect them, to do anything to make that look go away and never return. But he knew he couldn't, there was nothing he could do his Uncle had it handled, that didn't mean he didn't want to try. 

He started to get Huey a little more after that, he had never really understood why he put so much pressure on himself as the oldest brother but he was beginning to. Always wanting nothing more than for his siblings to be safe and happy and wanting to do anything he could to provide that, Dewey could definitely get behind that. 

He would always do anything he could for his siblings. 

* * *

When he had heard they were switching schools, Dewey was ecstatic, finally no more dumb teachers or bullies, Scrooge would make sure they went to the best place. And he did Dewey had heard only good things about Duckberg Prep. But he was a little nervous, he knew they expected high things of their students and he wasn't sure he could live up to those expectations. When he saw how nervous Louie was, however, all those thoughts went flying out of his head and the only thing he was focused on was making sure his sibling would be okay.

And he did it in the only way he knew how, making a joke. Only it wasn't a joke and they all knew it. 

"No." Huey stated, "We cannot solve all of our problems with violence."

Dewey rolled his eyes, "Nerd." 

"He's right I don't want you guys to get in trouble cause of me." 

"It's worth it." 

"It is." Huey agreed, "But I doubt the people'll be like that, it's a private school they're supposed to be more open-minded." Supposed to be, well Dewey hoped for Louie's sake they were, and for their own sakes as well. He knew he and Huey would go after whoever messed with their sibling. It was just the way the three of them were, they bickered and fought but they always had each other's backs. 

School wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, he thought that they would like it there. The people seemed nice enough and the teachers weren't total jerks, only if you didn't pay attention in their class which was fair enough. But most important no one commented on Louie being non-binary, which was the whole point of the switch, turned out they weren't the only one there who didn't agree with their birth gender. There was however a small incident before lunch but it was nothing he couldn't handle. 

And handle it he did, it made him feel good like he was doing something helpful for once. 

He started worrying even more about Louie after they had all went to save Uncle Gladstone. He was proud of them for pretty much saving the day but he couldn't help but notice how upset they looked when they found out Scrooge and Webby were okay with leaving them behind. He was rather mad about that, it was a kinda rotten thing to do and it only drove further into his mind that they didn't care about Louie as much as they cared about him and Huey. 

And that wasn't okay. 

He knew they had doubts about themself, more so than most people, so the fact that part of their family acted like they didn't care about them half the time just made those doubts worse. He didn't like that they were that troubled about themself, he knew how amazing they were he just wished they did too. That was when he knew something was really wrong. 

He had ideas before but now he was certain and certain he had no idea how to help. And he really wanted to help, more than he ever wanted anything, this was one of his siblings how could he not? So he decided to go to one of the people he knew would help,

His Uncle Donald. 

Ever since he could remember their uncle had always been there for them no matter what they needed. If someone could help him it was him he knew that like he knew his siblings but he was kinda hesitant about it. Going to his Uncle meant this was really real and he didn't know how to handle that. But he knew it had to be done, Louie needed help and that was what mattered. 

"Uncle Donald I need your help with something." 

Donald turned to look at him, "Of course, what do you need?" 

He sighed, "It's about Louie. I'm worried about them, they've been acting so off lately, I have some ideas why but I don't know how to help." 

Donald nodded sadly, "Yeah I've noticed that too, have you tried talking to them?" 

"They refuse to tell us anything, they don't wanna worry or 'burden' us. Their thinking, not mine." 

"I know you don't wanna hear but there's nothing else we can do, we can't force them to tell us what's going on and we can't fix it for them. The best thing we can do right now is listen, I know it doesn't feel like a lot but it'll mean a lot to them. Besides you know Louie, eventually their gonna tell us." 

"I know but it's just so frustrating sitting here and doing nothing when I know I can do something!"  

Donald sighed and bent down to his level, "Look at it this way: if you try to confront them now, all you're gonna get is a fight and that will make things worse which is what we don't want. Until they say something all we can do is be there for them, it's up to them to do the rest and when they do we'll go from there, all of us." 

Dewey nodded, "You're right Uncle Donald, thanks." 

Donald got up and ruffled his hair, "Anytime kiddo." 

* * *

Dewey felt better after that talk, he was gonna take his Uncle's advice and just be there for Louie. He could do that, easily, he wanted to do that the only thing was them letting him cause they weren't the best at that. He knew they were like that with everyone and not just him so he wasn't too offended but he was bothered by it, how could he be there for them if they wouldn't let him? 

He didn't know but he knew he'd find a way, stubbornness ran in the family after all. 

When Louie had found out they liked guys, he was nothing but supportive and started to get a clue as to help them, all he had to do was be himself. They seemed to appreciate that enough and it was what he knew how to do best. So he was himself, he teased and poked fun at them, he was supportive and felt anger for them, he did everything the way he usually did it and for a while, that was enough. 

Until he got in that fight with Huey. 

It's not like he meant to, these things just happened sometimes but he knew how much their fighting upset Louie and it was technically his fault so he did feel bad about it. But at the time he was too upset to care, Huey said he wasn't a good brother and mad or not that wasn't okay. He had already felt bad about not being able to help Louie in any way and that fight only made it worse. They had made up eventually but things had become strained between them after that and they both knew it, but Louie was already dealing with enough so they kept it to themselves. 

He tried to be there for Louie after that he really did but he could feel them slipping even further away, things were getting worse. And he felt stuck, no matter what he did they just sunk deeper into themself and they deeper they sunk the more worried he got that they wouldn't be able to pick themself up. He was afraid they were getting to the point of doing something stupid, which wasn't like them at all, and there was nothing he could about it. 

He didn't know what to think when they went to see Uncle Gladstone, he was excited about the yacht and he knew he wasn't that bad but he knew his other Uncles still didn't like him very much. Which he could understand he didn't like anyone that was that lucky, it was unnatural. However, Louie liked him for some reason so he could put up with him for a few hours especially on a yacht.

But then Louie wanted to tell him they were non-binary and Dewey honestly didn't know how he would take it but Uncle Scrooge was fine with it so anything could happen. They also wanted to tell him alone which he wasn't expecting at all, they usually didn't want to do those kinds of things alone, but if they wanted to he wasn't gonna stop them. But he was gonna spy on them. 

He was relieved when Uncle Gladstone was fine with them being non-binary. He felt like that was the good news they needed and maybe it would help them get out of this funk they were in, like knowing they were accepted by the people that mattered most. And it seemed to for a while but then they were right back in it, especially after they got their first crush. They were really bothered by that and he couldn't figure out why; they all knew they like guys and were fine with that. But it was like Louie couldn't understand why someone would be interested in them. 

Which really confused him, he couldn't understand how Louie didn't see how great they were. So he asked them, 

Indirectly, of course, he knew how directly would go. "Why does having a crush bother you so much?"

Louie looked at him and sighed, "I don't know I don't like acting stupid in front of people, not knowing what to say." Yeah, he could understand that; they were a con artist after all and con artists had to know exactly what to say. But they were also Louie and Louie did not like looking stupid almost as much as Huey didn't. Even still he knew there was more to it and as much as he wanted to push it he wouldn't. 

Even if he really really wanted to. 

He noticed how they looked after they tried on dresses for the first time and always wanted that look to be on their face. It was the less they deserved. But he also saw the way they froze when they saw him and Huey for the first time like they were scared they'd have a problem with it. That upset him, it felt like they didn't trust them which he hoped wasn't true but was starting to have doubts. They weren't telling them anything and it didn't seem like they planned to anytime soon. But he knew them and he knew they had a good reason, or what they thought was a good reason so he left it alone. 

And then they got sick. 

And not only did they get sick, they didn't tell anyone that they were sick for half the day. That had made him so mad but he was even madder at himself for not saying anything, it's true nothing too bad happened but it easily could've and it would've been partially his fault. But, as it usually did with his siblings, his anger quickly went out the window when he found out just how sick they were. And by the time it came back his brother and Uncle had said everything there was to say and they had already promised to not do it again. 

After that, he was done. 

Enough was enough as far as he was concerned all of this had gone on long enough, at this point he didn't care if it made things worse he was saying something. And that's when it all fell apart, after Louie said everything that was bothering them he felt so many things. Concern was the uppermost feeling, they had been dealing with all of this for so long and on their own, he couldn't imagine what they were going through. Anger was second; at everything that made them feel like that, at everyone who made them feel like that, at the fact that they had kept it to themself, just at the whole situation in general!  

But the thing he hated most about this whole predicament, the thing that irked him the most, was that Louie thought it was all their fault. They honestly thought that it was their fault they felt like that and he couldn't understand that at all. He knew it wasn't, everyone else knew it wasn't, they were the only one who didn't and he couldn't figure out why. He also knew he wasn't the only one who felt that way and he knew that they would do everything they could to make sure Louie never did again. 

And they would it together, as a family. 


	33. The Confrontation of Dewey Duck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey finally confronts everything.  
> Set sometime in season two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone who celebrates it! This is my gift to everyone who reads this story!

Dewey knew a lot of things about himself, he knew he liked theatre and stars, he knew he hated school but he also knew the in-depth things about himself that he didn't like to think about. He knew he wanted to stand out and he often felt like he didn't belong anywhere, no matter what his siblings said, and he knew he felt like he wasn't a good brother. He knew he couldn't always help Louie as much as he wanted to and he knew he and Huey were really awkward with each other right now. 

But more importantly, he knew he was broken. 

And not the fun kind of broken either the kind that Louie was but he didn't think therapy would help his problems. But he also didn't know what would and that scared him more than anything ever had. But he also also knew that he had a pretty great family who would help him with any problems he had the best they could. Which was why he wasn't scared to go to them with this. 

But he was nervous. So, he went to the two people who could calm his nerves no matter what first. 

He found them in the den watching something; he made himself known and they both smiled at him. But Louie turned off the TV when they noticed how serious he looked, 

"What's up?" 

He sighed, "A lot. So you guys know how we promised each other we come to each other with our problems from now on?" They both nodded, "Well I've been having a lot of problems lately and I don't know how to handle them." 

Huey looked at him curiously, "Like what?" 

"The normal. Wanting to stand out, not feeling like I always belong; I know you guys have talked to me about that stuff but I'm still struggling with it, I'm scared I'm always gonna struggle with it. It's like no matter what I tell myself or what you guys tell me I still worry about it." 

His siblings shared a look, "Dewey I know you don't wanna hear us," Huey started, "But we've said all we can to you about that stuff the rest is up to you. You just have to trust that you have the strength to deal with it, we know you do." 

"There's more isn't there?" Louie said and he looked at them in surprise, why did his siblings have to know him so well?!?! 

"Yerp there's more... I don't always feel like I'm a good brother," They both gasp and went about to deny that but he continued before they could, "I don't know how to help Louie and Huey and I can't go two minutes without fighting lately." 

"I have noticed that." Louie admitted quietly but then looked at him seriously, "You do help me, so much. I don't know where I'd be without either of you. I think you're a good brother and that's got to count for something," They suddenly looked unsure, "Right?" 

He was quick to reassure them, "It does, of course it does, thank you."  

They both then looked at Huey who hadn't said anything for a few moments, "I'm sorry, for fighting with you so much. I just feel like with you pulling away a lot, you don't need us, you don't need me." 

Dewey looked at him strangely, "What? Of course I need you, you're my older brother! How could I not need you? I don't know if you guys noticed but I'm kinda lost without you. I just... I want to prove that I can do things without you guys too, that I'm self-sufficient, I don't always want to be 'one of the triplets' sometimes I want to be just Dewey. I'm not as comfortable with my triplet identity as you are but that doesn't mean I always don't need you and I'm sorry for making you feel like that." 

Huey nodded, "You have a point I can't always expect for us to everything together I just don't wanna lose you guys." He suddenly looked at Dewey, "Why would I feel that way if I thought you weren't a good brother? We both know you are and for now, that can be enough. You'll realize it one day and we're here for you until you do." 

Dewey swiftly surged forward a hugged him, "You're not gonna lose me. Not ever." 

Louie joined in the hug, "Me either." 

After they pulled apart Dewey joined them on the couch, "I'm glad I'll always have you guys. And you're right Huey for now that has to be enough. I don't know if I'm in a place yet where I can make a mistake without bagging on myself." 

"Yeah, that can be a hard thing to do I still struggle with it sometimes." Louie admitted, "But it gets easier and we're here to make you feel better about yourself, it's what siblings do." 

Dewey looked at them, "It is and I know you said I help you plenty but I want to do more, I wanna feel like I'm actually helping and not just be told that. I want to try to be a better brother, to both of you. I just don't know how to do that." 

"Just be yourself, that's all we ever want." Dewey smiled at his siblings and they smiled back, 

Be himself, he could do that. 

* * *

After that talk, Dewey had felt a lot better but there were still some things bugging him so he went to someone else who knew him well, his Uncle Donald. His siblings had calmed his nerves like he hoped so it was easy to start the conversation. 

Donald had looked up from his work when he heard Dewey enter the houseboat curiously, it's not that the kids had never come in there since they moved into the manor, it was just really rare. And it usually meant something was wrong, "Dewey? Is everything okay?" 

"No, not really. I tried talking to my siblings about this but I don't think they really got it. I don't always feel like I belong with them, we're too different and I know no matter what they say I'm the odd one out. I'm scared they might leave me behind one day, decide I'm not worth the trouble or something..."  

Donald looked at him sternly, "You are worth the trouble, no one gets left behind. Look at it this way: you're a big brother and a little brother instead of not belonging with  either of them you can relate to both of them."

"I guess I never thought of it that way, but that doesn't change the fact that we're different." 

"It's a good thing that you're different, you're not the same person and no one knows that more than me but being different doesn't mean you can't hang out, you have some things in common. And they do things you like because you're there, it doesn't matter what you're doing as long as you're together." 

Dewey smiled, "You're right, thanks Uncle Donald. I do always have the most fun with them. Does that ever change?" 

Donald sighed and thought about how to answer that, it didn't, not really but you do drift away sometimes and he knew he probably didn't want to hear that, none of them did. But it was something they had to know, "The older you get some things don't change but some things do," Dewey looked at him confused, "Like you said earlier, you guys have different interests and as you get older you start to pursue them more. But you don't not stay close you just don't see them as much and that's okay, it's apart of growing up but you guys don't have to worry about that for a few years anyway." 

"So even if we're miles apart we'll still have each other?" 

Donald smiled, "Exactly!" 

"I already knew that Uncle Donald, we tell each other that all the time." 

"Well that's good, not everyone does." He looked down and sighed again. Dewey noticed the change in his mood and hesitantly asked, 

"You and mom?" 

Donald didn't look up as he answered, "Yup, we were close just as close as you three are but we didn't always tell each other. It was just an understood thing or I thought it was maybe if I said it more..." He shook his head quickly and gave Dewey a false smile that he saw right through, 

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up." 

"No it's okay," He reassured him then hugged him close to him as he said, "You kids have every right to know about your mom." 

"I think I'm good right now," Dewey broke the hug, "I just want to know I'll always have my siblings and that I belong with them. They're my favorite people I just... I don't know what I'd do without them." He confessed quietly, "I don't want to drift away from them and I don't wanna do something stupid like mom did. I'm not her."

"No," Donald realized, "You're not." He ran a hand through his head feathers, "We compare you to her a lot don't we?" 

"No a lot..." He tried to rebut. 

"Enough. I'm sorry Dewey, as much as I love Della you're not her and thank god for that, I don't know what I do if you followed in her footsteps. You're Dewey Duck and you belong in this family as much as the rest of us do." 

Dewey smiled at him, "Thanks Uncle Donald, for everything we don't always tell you that enough but we're glad you raised us. You didn't have to but you did and that's amazing so thank you." 

Donald smiled back and tried not to cry, "It's no problem Dewey choosing to raise you kids is the best thing I ever did." Dewey smiled even wider at that, he sure did have the best family. 

* * *

When Dewey left the houseboat he was as happy as he could be, for the first time in a while he felt like things were gonna be okay with him and it was all thanks to his family. He realized he had taken them all for granted lately and resolved to fix that, along with the other things about himself he wasn't crazy about. He needed to have more faith in himself like the others did. He was supposed to know himself best but lately it seemed like they did and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. 

He knew that Huey had a point earlier, they had helped him all they could the rest was up to him. So he decided to get to the root of why he felt like this, of why he wanted to stand out so much and why he felt like he didn't belong. He knew being a middle child had something to do with the first part but not the second, no that was all him. It wasn't like he was insecure or anything, he liked who he was, really! He just didn't like everything about himself but that was normal, no one did.

He figured that he would always have problems with standing out it came with being a triplet and there was nothing he could really do about that, except not completely change himself to do it like he learned before. But the not belonging part he knew he could do something to fix that, but what? 

Listen to his family for one thing, they were right he did belong with them. He just didn't know why he doubted that, why he felt like they were leaving him behind just because he wasn't involved in everything with them, he was the one who wanted to do his own thing sometimes! He knew they couldn't always do everything together, much more than Huey did, and he didn't want to do everything together so why did he sometimes feel like he was getting left out? 

Maybe... maybe it was just a normal thing to feel, maybe everyone got that way from time to time and he just experienced it a little more but why? Why did he experience it more? He knew his siblings cared about him and that they liked hanging out with him but he still doubted if he belonged with them. Was it cause they were so different? It had to be but Uncle Donald said that was okay, that they should be different and he knew that, he knew they were all different, he was okay with them being different. But he was still scared of them drifting apart. 

That, that was it! He wasn't doubting that he belonged with them he was just scared of them drifting apart! It made sense, they were all scared of that but he said it himself, even if they were miles apart they would always have each other, but he didn't want to be miles apart he always wanted to be with them. So right now he guessed he would have to take comfort in the fact that he wouldn't have to worry about that for a few years. 

But something he did have to worry about now? Being a good brother. 

He knew his siblings said all he had to do was be himself but that didn't feel like enough to him, he wanted to do more. He wanted to stop taking them for granted and he wanted to start understanding them more cause just because he knew them didn't mean he understood them. But most importantly he wanted to make sure they knew he needed and appreciated them, cause he did and he knew Huey well enough to know he had been feeling unappreciated by him lately and he wanted to fix that. And he thought he knew how so when he saw his brother he did,

"What is this for?" Huey asked as his brother hugged him, 

"Thank you, for being my brother I couldn't ask for a better one. I'll try to make that more well known in the future." 

Huey hugged him back, "Thank you, I couldn't ask for a better brother either. I'll try to be more understanding with you wanting to stand out." 

"So we're good now?" He asked looking at him hopefully, 

"I'm good, are you good?" 

"I am." He said with a smile and Huey smiled back, they both knew it wasn't just with their situation but with this whole thing. And Dewey hugged his brother tighter, he hadn't felt this good for a while now and he had people to thank for that, two in fact. But he didn't know the words to express his gratitude so he just hugged his brother and gestured for Louie to join them, he knew they would both understand anyway. 

That was the thing about siblings, after all, they always knew you best. 

He hung out with them for the rest of the day and it felt like it had before things started going wrong with him, before things started going wrong with Louie. And he knew that was what he needed, more than anything in the world he needed to be around his siblings, to genuinely have fun with them and not worry about anything. With his two favorite people in the whole wide world he knew he could do anything even get past all this stuff going on with him. 

Things were starting to look up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's the end of Dewey's arc, again very bittersweet but I am so looking forward to the next and final arc: Hueys! The first chapter of it won't be till next year so I can focus on finishing my other story and it just seems nicer that way, new year new arc. It's hard to say where this story will go after the end of that arc but it definitely won't be ending, I'm having so much fun with this story and you guys seem to be enjoying it so there's no reason to end it. 
> 
> Thank you for all the support so far it really means a lot and I hope you guys will continue to support this story in the upcoming year, we've still got a lot to cover after all!


	34. Temper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Duck tempers runs in the family.  
> Set sometime in season two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's officially the start of Huey's arc! Yay! Let me know if you have any ideas for one-shots about him I'd love to hear them!

Huey wasn't dumb, far from it actually, he knew he had a temper and a large one at that and he also knew he got it from his Uncle. But who knows where he got it from? Unlike his Uncle, however, he could control his fairly well, the only times it came out when was he was really mad ~~and/or scared~~ or when one or both of his siblings were in harm's way. 

Like now.

He wasn't sure how it got to this, the three of them were just peacefully making their way to the lunch room when Dewey was pushed back into some lockers by an unknown assailant. At this point Huey was more annoyed than mad thinking it was probably just an accident when he turned around to face the biggest, and only since Francis got suspended, bully of the school. 

Harold Pig. This guy was the worse and he seemed to have it out for all of them, specifically Dewey, since they started here. It was the usual, saying how they were practically the same person or making fun of their Uncle, stuff they had been dealing with for years but darn it if it wasn't annoying. 

"What do you want Harold?" Dewey said annoyed as he tried to push himself off the lockers, it briefly crossed his mind to just ignore him but he knew no matter what the adults said it wouldn't work, but he was shoved back into them again.

And that's when Huey saw red. 

He was about to jump on Harold when he was grabbed from behind, he didn't have to turn around to know who it was and demanded that they let him go. They refused. He started to struggle as much as he could without hurting them but they held tight. Meanwhile Dewey attempted to talk down Harold before something bad happened, 

And he didn't mean to himself. 

He knew that if he didn't get a handle on this situation soon Huey would completely lose his temper and nothing good ever came out of that. He had been doing good with it too! But nothing set him off like his siblings' safety, or lack of it. 

"Dude just walk away before this get's really bad for you." Dewey said leaning against the lockers calmly, one thing he learned from past experiences was to never show fear. 

Harold let out a dark chuckle, "The only one this is gonna get bad for is you." He raised a fist and Dewey shook his head warningly, 

"You don't wanna do that, trust me." 

He chuckled again, "Oh but I do." He was about to punch him when Louie let go of Huey, they were just as protective of their brothers as their brothers were of them. Huey quickly tackled Harold as Louie ran off to find a teacher and Dewey tried to pull him off of Harold.

"Huey it's not worth it just stop!" But Huey ignored him, he was too mad to listen to any sense or worry about repercussions, one of his siblings was almost hurt and that wasn't okay. He managed to get a few good hits in before he was roughly pulled off and placed on the floor by a teacher. 

"What is going on here?" Dewey explained the situation while Huey attempted to calm down. He hadn't lost his temper like that in a while not since... he quickly pushed that thought out his head now was not the time to be thinking of Dismal Downs. He turned to the teacher as he slowly calmed down and saw that Dewey was finishing telling her what happened and sighed, another one of his messes his siblings had to clean up. 

"I technically started the fight I should be the one that's punished." His siblings started to protest and he shook his head at them, "It's fine guys it was my fault." 

"Be that as it may this school has a zero tolerance policy against fighting, you're both in trouble." His siblings started to protest again but her glare stopped them. She then led him and Harold to the principal's office and told his siblings to go to lunch, they hesitated so he sought to reassure them. 

"Go ahead guys it'll be okay." They looked at him unsurely but then decided to go but not before looking back at him. He smiled at them soothingly and turned to go with the teacher. If only he felt as confident as he looked. 

After they got to the office the teacher told them to wait outside while she told him what happened, Huey chose a seat far away from Harold not wanting to lose his temper again which made him smirk. 

"You do know you're in trouble too right?" Huey pointed out and Harold faltered for a second before smirking again, 

"So are you." Huey rolled his eyes and chose not to speak to him again, it wasn't worth it; he didn't have a chance to anyway as the principal stepped out of his office and gestured for both of them to come in. Once they did they sat in the chairs and waited for his reprimantion, 

"I'll be calling your guardians about this." Not good. His Uncle could not find out he was in a fight, he would freak out for sure. He attempted to dissuade the principal but he had no avail and soon enough his Uncle was being called.

Oh no. 

* * *

Huey was prepared for the worst when his Uncle came into the office: screaming, the throwing of things, his own temper to flare up. He was not prepared to be worriedly checked over however, though in hindsight he probably should've been. After Huey assured him he was fine Donald turned to the principal and demanded to know what happened. 

"Mrs. Green was informed by a student that these two were fighting." Donald nodded, Louie. He knew his kids' protocol when the rare school fight happened, whichever one wasn't in the fight would attempt to calm down the one that was while Louie went to get an adult. He also knew that Huey didn't start the fight no matter what the teachers or principal said.

Whatever he was about to respond got cut off when Harold's parents walked in and judging by the looks on their faces this wasn't the first time this happened. Their eyes landed on their son then the principal and finally Huey and Donald their stare turned into a glare which made Donald glare back. He knew that glare, it meant they blamed Huey for what happened. Huey also knew what it meant and sunk into his chair, he didn't regret tackling the guy but he really wished he didn't have to get in trouble for it. 

"I assume the one who started the fight is getting punished." Mrs. Pig said and Huey turned worriedly to his Uncle, he didn't want to be the only punished, it wasn't fair! 

But thankfully the principal shook his head, "We have a zero tolerance policy with it comes to fighting here, both boys will be suspended. However," He continued making everyone stare at him confused, what else could there be? "It is my understanding that Harold started the fight when he pinned Dewford to some lockers." Donald let out a mad and surprised quack at that seemed he didn't know about that part. "So Harold will be suspended a whole week longer than Huebert and since we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying as well he can expect a month of detention when he gets back." 

"Why didn't I know about one of my kids being pushed into lockers?" Donald calmly questioned before Harold's parents could protest the principal's decision which made Huey fidget anxiously, he knew that type of calmness it was quite literally the calm before the storm. 

The principal looked at him apprehensively, this wasn't the first time Donald Duck was in his office, "It wasn't the point at the moment, I called you here for Huebert."

"I still should've been informed," He paused for a moment, "Why is Huey getting suspended when he was defending his brother?!" 

"Zero tolerance Mr. Duck." 

"I don't care about "zero tolerance" you're teaching him to not stick up for his siblings, that as long as it's not happening to him bullies can do whatever they want! You're teaching him to be selfish and that is not how I raised him!" 

"Cause that turned out well." Mrs. Pig spoke from beside him and he slowly turned to her as Huey shrunk further in his seat. This would not end well. 

"Excuse me?" 

"Switching schools in the middle of the year, getting into fights yes that is model parenting." She said sarcastically and the principal attempted to diffuse the situation but both of them ignored him.  

"You don't know anything about my kids and the last time I checked your son was just as involved in the fight as mine was. So don't try and give me any crap at least my kid doesn't have to pick on anyone to feel better about himself." Mr. and Mrs. Pig glared at him and were about to respond when the principal cut in, 

"Enough! Let's just all calm down. My decision is final zero tolerance means zero tolerance even if he was defending someone, even if the other person is a bully. We can't have any fighting here no matter the circumstances their both suspended for the week Harold is suspended two weeks and will be serving a month's detention when he gets back, nothing is changing my mind." 

The adults were about to protest when Huey spoke up from behind his Uncle for the first time since Donald got there, "It's fine Uncle Donald I'm okay with it." 

Donald turned to him not at all surprised, he knew his kids well, "You don't have to do this Huey it wasn't your fault." 

Huey gave him a false smile, "I know, it's okay. I still got in a fight and Mr. Clark is right zero tolerance means zero tolerance. I just wanna go home." 

"You sure?" Huey nodded and Donald sighed then turned to Mr. Clark, "He can leave now right?" 

Mr. Clark nodded, "Yes he just needs to get his assignments from his teachers and the assignments from the day's he'll be gone." 

"His siblings' can do that," He quirked his head at Huey, "Come on kiddo, let's go home." 

* * *

The car ride home was silent but Huey knew they were gonna talk about it when they got to the manor. Not that he could blame his Uncle, fighting was a serious thing and it wasn't like him to do it, he usually left it to Dewey but this time, this time was different. 

It was one of his siblings.

And he knew Dewey could take care of himself but that didn't stop the red from appearing. And nothing could stop him from defending one of them no matter how much trouble he got in. They were all like that but he took it a step further a lot of the time due to being the oldest brother and they all knew it. That's why his siblings tried so hard to placate him when the rare person messed with them. 

Too bad it hardly ever worked. 

Which lead to situations like this, a long and awkward ride home waiting for his punishment while his siblings were stuck at school worried about him. He didn't know how his Uncle felt about all of this as he was usually hard to read but he hoped it wasn't disappointment, he wasn't sure if he could handle that or not. Luckily or unluckily he didn't have to wait long to find out as they pulled up to the manor and Donald stopped his car and sighed. He turned to Huey who was in the passenger seat next to him looking down and sighed again, 

"I'm not mad Huey, well I am but not at you." Huey stared at him hopefully. 

"You're not? But I started the fight..." 

"No that kid Harold did, you did nothing I wouldn't expect you to do especially for one of your siblings. You're not in trouble for sticking up for him or getting in that fight, you three will never be in trouble for looking out for each other but I do wanna talk to you about your temper. I know it was justified today but you have got to get a better hold on it, I speak from experience. That type of anger... it does stuff to you, stuff that you shouldn't have to go through. That type of anger is dangerous if it's not controlled properly and I know you would never hurt your siblings but you could very easily hurt yourself and none of us want that." 

"I don't like getting that mad..." Huey admitted quietly, "I just can't help it, when one of them is in danger all I can see is red!" 

Donald pinched his head, "I know! I know! I get the same way when it comes to you three, can you at least try?" 

"I want to but it's not just when they're in trouble, I mean that's the easiest way to set it off but sometimes I just get so... frustrated? Like when Dewey got that promotion at Waddle right after I got the internship, it felt like all my hard work had been for nothing and I lashed out. How do you deal with it Uncle Donald?" 

Donald sighed, "It's tough, we both know that, but it can be done, it'll never be an easy thing to do Huey. The truth? I still struggle with it. But finding an outlet for it helps, not letting everything build up, talking when something's wrong. And then it only comes out at times when it matters, like when the people you love are in danger, it's just matter of control really and you have much better control than I do." 

Huey smiled but then frowned, "I'm not grounded am I?" 

Donald let out a little laugh, "Not this time but try not to get into too many fights in the future, take your sibling's lead and get an adult." 

"What if they don't do anything?" 

"Then you fight." 

Huey was boredly hanging out in his room when his siblings barged in and tackled him. They both started talking at the same time but he knew them well enough to know what they were saying and quickly set to reassure them, 

"No, I'm not in trouble. No Uncle Donald's not mad, well not at me, yes I'm okay, yes I know I shouldn't have lost my temper like that, yes I will try not to in the future. Yes, I'm sure I'm okay I know it wasn't my fault Uncle Donald made sure I understood that but I would do it again, in a heartbeat." He pushed them both off of him and they looked at him unsurely. 

"I promise I'm okay, what about you Dewey he didn't hurt you too much did he?" 

Dewey shooked his head, "Nerp I'm good besides spending half the day worrying about you, you coulda texted you know." 

"That's what I forgot to do! Sorry guys." 

"It's whatever. So you're really not in any trouble?" Louie asked and they both looked at Huey curiously. 

"Nope. I was sticking up for you guys he said we'd never be in trouble for that. We did talk about my temper, however." His siblings winced then Dewey shrugged, 

"Well least we don't have to." 

"Yeah it was... it sucked to be honest, but I probably needed it and he did give me some good advice, I just have to take it." 

"Good. We've seen what it does to him, we don't want that to happen to you." 

"Me either. It probably won't, he says I have more control than him anyway." His siblings laughed, 

"That's definitely true." Dewey said picking up his backpack and handing Huey some papers. He took them with a grateful smile and started looking them over as his siblings got out their own work and started to do it. He watched them with a smile before it turned into a frown, he honestly didn't know how he would deal without them this week but he knew one thing for sure, 

It would be a long one. 


	35. Bond of Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey thinks about the bond he and his siblings have and how only they have it.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Huey wouldn't say he was closer to Louie or that he understood them more than Dewey did, he just knew they had an easier time coming to him with some stuff and that wasn't Dewey's fault Huey was just more patient than he was. He also knew that he and Louie got along the best, in fact pretty much everyone knew that, and it was weird for them to fight with each other. Sure they got into disagreements but those were quickly and easily resolved, they were the most likely to listen to each other even when they were mad and they were the fastest to support each other. 

But they were also the fastest to call each other out which is technically support in itself, people who support you don't let you get away with things you don't normally do no matter the situation. Or in Louie's case sometimes the things you do normally do, Huey wasn't blind he knew his sibling had a skewed moral compass and wasn't always interested in doing the right thing so it was up to Huey to steer them in that direction. But he also knew that his sibling was very emotional, probably the most emotional out of the four of them and that they needed the most comfort most times which he happily gave. Which is also probably why Louie came to him with most things and he was glad for that he didn't want them hiding everything again, none of them did. 

And on the flip side, he often felt like he could also go to Louie with most things and that they would know just what to say to help him. It was also usually up to them to calm him down when he got too angry or irrational cause they were the one he'd usually listen to. They were the one who sought him out whenever he hid away, either for a patch or something else, and they were the one who got him out. They also had the uncanny ability to know when something was wrong with him, well with both of their brothers actually, it was like they could stare into his soul and see everything in there, it was really creepy. 

He was really glad he had a sibling like Louie, he didn't know what he'd do without them. They were one of his best friends, one of the people he was closest to and one of the people he could never tire of. He was scared that they would lose the connection they had as they grew up, he already felt like Dewey was pulling away he didn't wanna lose both of them, it was one of his biggest fears. 

"Louie," He said one rare day when they were hanging out in their bedroom just the two of them. Louie turned to him curiously, 

"Yeah?" 

But he didn't know what to say, there were so many things he wanted to and not enough words to say them so he decided to say the thing that mattered most, "Thank you for being my sibling, I don't know what I'd do without you." 

"Me either." 

Huey sat up in Louie's bed and they followed suit, "Promise me we'll always be like we are now, promise me we won't drift apart as we grow up." He pleaded not looking at them but he didn't have to to know that they were staring at him. 

"Promise." Louie responded seriously with a certain look in their eyes they then tried to get him to look at them. "Huey." He looked up and they suddenly became hesitant, 

"I know you're scared about Dewey pulling away but I'm not going anywhere, not ever." They gave him a weak smile, "I'll always be here for you." 

He nodded, "Good. I'm not going anywhere either." He added on and Louie's smile grew before they plopped back down on their bed but Huey just pushed himself into the wall which made Louie frown.

"Something else bothering you?" 

"Not really just don't feel like laying down."

Louie shrugged, "If you say so." They pulled out their phone and started to scroll through it as Huey got out his guidebook and started flipping through it but was really watching his sibling. He was really lucky to have them, he only hoped they knew that. 

* * *

On the other hand, his relationship with Dewey was much less stable but he didn't care about him any less and things were getting better lately after they had that talk. However they still couldn't go a couple of hours without getting into some sort of argument, they were resolved pretty quickly but they still happened, a lot. And they often butted heads with how to handle situations but he knew that if he ever had a problem he could go to Dewey and he hoped Dewey knew likewise. 

Whenever Dewey came to him with problems he tried his best to help him out and as far as Huey knew he always took his advice.  He also tried to rope him in whenever he got too reckless on adventures and always tried to keep him safe, well he tried to keep both of his siblings safe but Dewey always needed it more especially on adventures or with bullies. Huey defended him from bullies a lot, they weren't many at their new school, not like their old one but there were some. He knew his brother acted like he brushed off whatever they said but really took all of it to heart and they always managed to hit stuff he was already sensitive about. He also knew what to say to help him overcome those sensitives cause he knew Dewey was great and Huey wanted him to know too. 

Huey looked to Dewey to come up with fun things most times as he wasn't the best at that and he went to him when he became too stressed, which happened a lot more after they moved into the manor. He counted on Dewey to soothe him and make him relax, Dewey could always be calm when it mattered which also helped with his undiagnosed anxiety. On the rare account he had a bad dream he went to Dewey, you would think he would go to his Uncle but he always found Dewey very comforting and the fact that he could make jokes about it also really helped. 

He was really glad to have a brother like Dewey, he didn't know what he'd do without him. He was one of his best friends, one of the people he was closest to and one of the people he could never tire of. No matter how much they fought Huey still loved his brother and hated that he was pulling away from them, he didn't know why and was trying to be more understanding but he didn't want to lose him and it felt like he already was. 

"I'm glad you're my brother." Huey said quietly to his brother one night after one of his nightmares and Dewey rolled over to face him, 

"Me too. What's this about Hue?" 

Huey stared at his bunk for a few moments before responding, "I feel like we're losing you Dew, I don't wanna lose you." Dewey's face softened, 

"You're not, I'm not going anywhere. We've been over this I don't always wanna be one of the triplets but that doesn't mean I'm going anywhere it just means I wanna do my own thing sometimes." He smiled at Huey, "And I always can't wait to tell you guys." 

Huey gave a small smile, "I'm trying to understand, really. I guess my whole identity revolves around being a triplet and I'm okay with that but that doesn't mean you guys are."

"I love you guys and I want us to always be close as we grow up but I don't always wanna be together." 

"I guess I can be okay with that, just don't go too far."

Dewey gave him a sheepish look, "I'll try not to but I know you guys will pull me back if I do." He lightly shoved Huey, "Now go to bed, we unfortunately have school tomorrow." 

Huey quietly snorted and shoved him back, "Unfortunate for you, night." He turned around and tried to go to sleep. After trying for a few minutes he felt Dewey's back press against him and smiled, he was really lucky to have him as well and he hoped he knew that. 

* * *

But to be honest Huey needed both of them and would be lost without either of them, he may of needed them for different things most times but he still needed both of them. Huey was very naive, he acknowledged that, it was one of the main reasons he needed his siblings, who were anything but naive. He needed their comfort when he was sad or after a long day but he also needed to look after them, to be their older brother it wasn't his only purpose in life but it was a big one. He took just as much comfort in being their comforter as they did, of being the one who made sure that they were okay and of being the one they went to with their problems. He liked that they needed him just as much as he needed them, it made him feel like he was a good big brother. 

And he didn't always feel like that. Luckily for him he had two people that knew him as well as he knew them. 

"You've been kind of quiet today." Huey heard as he felt movement on the ladder coming up to his bed. He then felt them both lay on either side of him and sighed, 

"Sorry just been thinking... I'm really lucky to have you guys in my life, you know?" 

"We know." Louie confirmed quietly, "What's been going on with you dude?" 

"Don't think we haven't noticed." Dewey added on which made Huey smile before he answered, 

"I know you have but nothing's really wrong I've just been thinking about how much I need you guys and how glad I am that you're my siblings. I always hear people at school complain about their siblings and it makes me really glad that we are how we are, that no matter how much we fight or argue we always manage to come back together. And if I could only have one thing it'd be for that to never change. I love you guys." 

His siblings grinned at him and Louie "discreetly" wiped their eye, "We love you too." They both said and lay their heads next to his.

It was so quiet for a few minutes that he thought they had both fell asleep so he looked at them but discovered that they were, in fact, both still awake. Which was kinda weird for Dewey, he wasn't known for being quiet for too long but it was welcomed, perhaps he was finally starting to see the value in peace and quiet. 

"Why'd you start thinking about that stuff anyway?" Or maybe not. Huey picked his head up and looked at him, 

"What do you mean?" 

Dewey sat up which made his siblings also sit up and wait for his response, "Like that's kinda a weird thing to just start thinking about, did it just happen or....?" 

Huey thought about it for a second, "It just happened I guess. The thoughts just appeared in my head and I started paying attention to them, how could I not they were about you guys?" 

"So nothing brought it on?" Louie carefully asked and he shook his head. He knew what they were doing, what they both were doing, he knew that the both of them usually got those thoughts when they were in a bad place but he was fine. 

"Nope, nothing at all." He reassured both of them and knew they would believe him, the three of them had always had the ability to know when one of them was lying. It was one of the perks of being a triplet and one of his favorite things in the world, to have not just one but two people who knew him so well they knew when he was lying. He knew he would never have this sort of bond with anyone else. He knew there would never be anyone else he could fully be himself with or that he could trust with anything and everything. And he knew that what he had here, right now with his siblings he would never have anywhere else, with anyone else. 

And he was so glad it was with them. 


	36. Triplet Dynamic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey worries about the triplet dynamic.  
> Set during Standing Out.

Huey was very observant especially about his siblings so it was no surprise to him that he saw something was up with Dewey. First he started changing his wardrobe, which was weird but not weird enough for Dewey for him to be worried about. Next he got all sorts of new interests and barely hung out with him and Louie anymore, that was when he started to worry, it was starting to look like Dewey no longer needed them, needed him and he didn't know how to feel about that. Wait, scratch that, he did know how to feel, he felt very sad and hurt and after dwelling over it for a few days he decided to confront Dewey, 

"Dewey what is going on with you?" He asked him one afternoon as they did their homework in the den, He knew Louie was pretending to listen to music on their phone while eavesdropping on the conversation and tried to keep himself from getting too upset, that wouldn't help anyone, but darn it if it wasn't hard. 

Dewey looked at him, "What are you talking about?" 

Huey just stared at him incredulously, "Seriously? You're acting completely different! You have all sorts of new interests that you didn't have before and you're wearing all sorts of new clothes! Why?" 

"I'm growing Hubert." 

"That's not growing, that's becoming a complete other person! And I don't understand why, do you not like yourself or something?" 

He saw Dewey shoot a quick look at Louie and tried to calm himself down. It almost worked. "No that's not it. I'm just evolving is all, it's a natural part of life. I thought you of all people knew that." Okay, that was it. He was done with whatever this was, Dewey was making him too mad and he was trying to keep a better hold on his temper, 

He got up, "You know what? No, I can't deal with this anymore! Find me when you stop acting so weird." He stormed out and went to their room slamming the door behind him. He couldn't believe Dewey! Something was obviously up with him and he refused to say what, Huey thought they were past keeping stuff from each other but evidently he was wrong.

Whatever, he just wanted to forget about this for a while, he went to their desk and started to finish his homework. As he got really into it the door slammed open making him jump. He turned around and glared at Dewey before going back to work, he heard movement but didn't care enough to see what Dewey was doing. It was silent for a while as neither of them had anything to say to each other that wouldn't result in a fight. But after a while Huey couldn't take it any longer and said something, 

"Why won't you just admit something's up?!" 

Dewey didn't look up from his comic, "Cause nothing's up." Huey inwardly snorted, nothing's up, yeah he believed that. 

"So you're just acting that way just because?"

"Yerp." 

Huey sighed and closed his book, he couldn't be around him right now, "I'm gonna go see if Louie needs any help." He left to the den and saw Louie boredly scrolling through their phone, he cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow at them, no way they were already done. They saw him and scrambled for their homework then acted like they were doing it. 

"Oh hey Huey." They said attempting to be casual which he saw through but ignored and sat next to them. 

"Need any help?" Louie looked at him for a second before answering, 

"I'm good... no offense Hue but why are you back down here?" 

He sighed, "I just can't be around Dewey right now, it's so obvious something's up with him but he won't tell us anything! I thought he was done keeping stuff from us but I guess I was wrong." 

"That's not all is it?" Huey cursed how well they knew him. 

"No, he's pulling away from us I know he is. First it's," He made a vague gesture with his hand, "Whatever this is who knows what's next? It's starting to feel like he doesn't want to be around us I know that's stupid but-"

"It's not stupid," Louie cut him off with a frown, "Not if it's making you upset, why don't you just tell him what's wrong?" 

"Cause I can't be around him without getting mad and it'll be that way for a while." He paused and continued hesitantly, "Do _you_ think he's pulling away from us?" 

Louie sighed, "I honestly don't know but I do something's wrong with him, it's weird, even for him, that he suddenly just decided to completely change himself without any explanation. I guess I get why he's not talking to us but I wish he would." 

"Me too."  

* * *

Huey continued to avoid Dewey for a few days after that, it was for the best for everyone. He didn't see a lot Louie for a while either which was strange, they usually stayed impartial, it never occurred to him that they were trying to get information from Dewey. After staying away from him for a while he started to get a clearer head, he wasn't mad anymore he just wanted to know what was wrong. He also wanted to know why Dewey thought pulling away from them would solve anything and why he had been doing that a lot lately even before this whole thing started. 

He worried about Dewey sometimes, he was so eager to stand out that he forgot about his siblings and how much they liked being around him. And he knew that Dewey pulling away was the start of something bad, the start of them splitting apart first it would be Dewey then Louie then he would be all alone. He didn't want to be alone. Huey loved being around his siblings, he knew they couldn't always be together but he didn't want them to split apart it was the thing he feared most. 

Realistically he knew Dewey would be the one to pull away first, he had always been the one who ran ahead, but Huey wished he could say he surprised when he started to leave them, sadly he wasn't. He guessed he just thought that it wouldn't be for a while, that they had some more time but as soon as they moved into the manor it was already too late. He started researching Mom without them and then started doing a bunch of things without them and now here they are. 

And he didn't know how to fix it. 

He realized he needed help with this and that he hadn't seen a certain someone in awhile so he went to see Webby. He knocked on her door and hoped she would answer but he wouldn't blame her if she didn't, he knew she was going through a hard time right now. He couldn't even imagine what she was going through... 

He was cut out of his thoughts by the door opening, "Huey!" Webby said excitedly and he smiled at her. 

"Hey Webs you got a minute?" 

"Of course!" She opened her door more and he walked in, "What can I do for you?" 

"I'm worried about Dewey and I need someone to talk to."

She closed the door and beamed at him, "Oh! Good timing he just left." 

Huey looked at her questioningly, "What was he doing here?" 

"He wanted some suggestions for standing out which I thought was silly. I tried to give him this instead," She handed him a book about teamwork, "But he refused to take it, said it wasn't what he wanted but he didn't get it." She explained as he flipped through the book, "He doesn't need to stand out, he's Dewey he already stands out and he's doing it all wrong now, he's trying to separate himself from you guys, that's not right. I don't want you to split up." She looked down sadly. 

"I don't either. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, no one is splitting up not today." Huey reassured her and she gave him a weak smile. He then realized this was the worst time to go to her with this and looked at her guiltily but she waved him off, 

"Go find your siblings." 

"My other siblings." He corrected Webby with a pointed look and she beamed before giving him a tight hug. He hugged her back for a few seconds before he almost ran out of air, he quickly tried to loosen her grip and she did with a sheepish look. But he just smiled at her then went to find one or both of his other siblings. He found one but not who he was expecting or what he was expecting, he found Louie sitting on the floor in one of the manors halls with their head in their legs. Huey looked at them curiously and sat next to them, they glanced up at him but didn't say anything. 

"What happened?" 

"Dewey happened." They stopped so Huey waited for them to continue, "I ran into him a few minutes ago and it didn't go well. I called him out on not being fine and he still insisted that he was, that he's just growing and that's just not true! He's completely changed and I don't like who he's changed into; then he accused me of being confident with who I am which is just plain wrong and I'm really surprised he said that I thought he knew me better..." They trailed off and Huey put an arm around them comfortingly, 

"He does he's just mad," Louie looked at him angrily, "But I know that doesn't excuse it and when this is all over you guys'll have to talk about that, but for now I think I know what's wrong with him or part of it at least. He always wants to stand out right?" They nodded, "That's what he's doing here! Sure it's a little extreme but it's still Dewey just wanting to be seen as different we just have to convince him that he is." 

They gazed at him surprised, "How could he not know he's different? He's Dewey!" 

"That's what Webby said." Huey noted, "And she's right, you're right something's not right here and we need to figure out what." He said determinedly, Louie looked at him just as determined and they both set to make a plan. 

* * *

A few days later they both of them had come up with a plan to confront Dewey and were currently hanging out in their room. They had just finalized the plans when Louie told him they were hungry and they opened the door to go get some food when he heard them pause. 

"Uh sorry?" Sorry, who were they talking to? He looked up from his phone to find out and let out of a puff of air as Dewey entered the room, looked like their plan would have to start now. But that didn't mean he would go easy on him, 

"Need something?" Dewey flinched slightly and looked at the both of them.

"Yes actually... I wanted to say sorry, I've been a real jerk these last few weeks and you guys didn't deserve that, so I'm sorry." Huey hopped down from his bed and stared at him, he didn't expect Dewey to apologize on his own he was really stubborn like that. So, why was all Huey could say and Dewey let out a sigh before he answered,

"I've been wanting to something to set myself apart from you guys, so people will finally see I'm Dewey and never mistake me for one of you guys again. But I took it too far and I hurt everyone including myself in the process and I am so sorry for that, you don't even know how much. You guys are amazing but I'm not either of you and I want people to understand that but not if it makes you hate me." Huey softened up as he listened to him, oh Dewey what have you been going through? And why haven't you told us before? Any anger he had left quickly vanished and he went into big brother mode, 

"We could never hate you." 

"But-"

Huey grabbed him, "Never, there isn't anything you could do. It's the three of us forever, nothing could change that." And he meant that, every word. He was positive his siblings could kill someone and he wouldn't care, they would probably have a good reason anyway. Dewey nodded and hugged him teary-eyed he hugged back just as teary-eyed and a few seconds later he felt Louie join the hug. 

"That was really beautiful." They said when the hug broke and both their bothers smiled at them before Dewey's turned to a frown. Huey looked at him curiously wondering what else could be wrong and quickly got his answer. 

"Louie I-"

Louie gave him a false smile, "It's okay." 

"No it's not, I shouldn't have brought that up especially knowing your history, I'm sorry." 

Their smile grew thinner but more genuine, "Thanks." 

Dewey sighed, "Do you really hate yourself?" Huey looked at them shocked, he thought they were doing better and maybe they were but he couldn't be too sure right now. They then avoided both of their eyes before answering, 

"Not exactly news guys."

"I didn't think it was that bad." He whispered they shrugged but didn't say anything else so he dropped it for now and turned Dewey, "You can stand out and still be Dewey." 

"Uncle Donald said the same thing. You guys are right, I'm gonna be me, only me and if people still mistake me for one of you guys that's on them. I know who I am and so do the people closet to me, that's all that matters." Huey smiled at him glad he learnt that lesson and hoped he would always remember it, it was an important one to know but there was still something he needed to know, 

"Don't worry one of these days everyone will know who you are, Dewford Deuteronomy Duck."

Louie smiled, "Yeah you'll probably be some grand adventurer or the greatest at something." 

Dewey threw an arm around both of them, "And you guys will be right by my side."

"Always." 

Huey had to admit he felt a great weight lift off his shoulder when he heard Dewey say that, maybe he was too quick to jump to a conclusion, maybe Dewey was just a little confused and didn't want to pull away like he originally thought. As long as his siblings wanted the three of them to be together things would be fine he was sure of that. No matter what happened things would be okay if it was the three of them he knew that and he wanted them to know it too.

He had to make sure they knew that that was one of his jobs as oldest brother which was his favorite thing to be but lately he had to admit it was a little tiring. He loved his siblings and he loved being their older brother but sometimes it was like everything was expected of him and he wasn't sure if he could live up to those expectations. And he knew that they weren't the ones who expected so much from him, quite the opposite actually, but he still didn't wanna let them down. He couldn't let them down, any of them he would hate himself forever if he did. 

But he was getting so tired. 


	37. Questions Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey questions somethings about himself.  
> Set sometime in the series.

The day was going like any other day, the triplets were hanging out in their room each doing different things but still enjoying each others company. Huey was busy reading a mystery book when he saw Dewey suddenly sit up in his bed and try to get his siblings attention. They both looked at him curiously but he only had eyes for Louie, 

"Who'ya texting Lou-Lou?" Dewey teased them and Louie rolled their eyes, 

"No one. Shut up." They went back to their phone so they didn't see their brothers shared knowing look. Huey got up from his spot at their desk and sat next to Louie in the beanbag they were currently in. Louie glanced up at the movement and raised an eyebrow when they saw Huey then quickly put their phone in their pocket before he could try to take it. 

Huey lightly nudged them, "Come on why won't you tell us?" 

"Cause you guys'll tease me! I'd rather not have to go through that." 

"We tease cause we love." Dewey said now sitting on the edge of his bed cheekily and Louie plopped back in the beanbag chair. 

"Ugh fine if you really wanna know it was Andrew." 

"Oo-oo!" Their brothers teased them and they groaned as they put their hand over their eyes. 

"I will leave right now if I have to." 

Huey laid next to them, "Don't do that." 

"What's the deal with you two anyway?" They both looked at Dewey, "Like are you just flirting or dating or...?" 

Louie made a face, "Ew gross no, what's the deal with you and James?" They shot back and Dewey blushed, 

"There is no deal I've barely said hi to him. Besides he still seems like a big jerk, no thanks." The two of them continued to discuss their crushes but Huey found he couldn't relate, he had never had a crush before. Was something wrong with him? He thought about asking the both of them but knew they would immediately say no, he needed an honest opinion. 

Which is why he found Webby later that day, he knew she would be honest with him even if she didn't mean to, she was worse at lying than he was. He found her in her actual bedroom tucking a stuffed animal tightly into her bed for some reason but brushed it off as Webby being Webby and got her attention from the safety of the ladder. She whirled around in a fighting stance but relaxed when she saw it was Huey. 

"Hey! What's up?" 

Huey hesitated, "I need an honest opinion about something and you're the only one that'll give it to me." 

"Honesty's the best policy." She replied as she gestured for him to sit next to her on her bed which he did but not before giving the stuffed animal a strange look. Webby quickly threw it out of her bed and it landed on the floor with a thump, she then gave him a fake smile and waited for him to start. 

"I've never had a crush on anyone, is that weird?" 

"Oh, um I don't know?" She offered, "I never really had a crush on anyone till I met Lena but I've found girls attractive? If that makes sense, I'm not really the best person to go to with crushy type stuff." It made sense, she had been stuck in the manor her whole life but even then she still knew she liked girls. He and the others had known about that for a while now, she came out around the same time Dewey did. But she had explained she knew she liked girls for some time before that and he had his suspicions that his other two siblings had some idea they liked guys before they thought about it. Him on the other hand? Nothing, he's never liked anyone or even thought about anyone in that way. 

Maybe something was wrong with him. 

"What if something's wrong with me? I've never had romantic thoughts, that's not normal." He looked down and tried not to cry, "What if everyone thinks I'm weird for it? What if- what if you guys stop wanting to hang out with me? I mean it's okay to like someone of the same gender or multiple genders but no one? That can't be right something- something has to be wrong with me." 

"That doesn't mean we'll hate you or stop wanting to be around you. I don't think anything's _wrong_ with you, just... different and since when is different a bad thing? You're Huey and that's all that matters." 

Huey weakly smiled at her, "Thanks but..." He sighed, "I don't know, I feel wrong. Like it's just something else that ostracizes me and- and I'm scared, I don't need something else to seclude me from other people." 

"But," Webby looked at him lost, "But isn't it a good thing to not be like everyone else?" 

"Not when it makes you feel alone. Thanks for the help." He got off her bed and left ignoring her attempts to make him come back. Well, he thought as he roamed the halls, he went in there for the truth and he got it.

But now he wished he didn't. 

* * *

Huey sighed as he sat on the deck of the backyard of the manor, he always felt like this was a good place to think and he needed to think. He also needed to be alone and no one would find him there for a while so it was the perfect spot. Something was wrong with him that much he knew but he didn't know how to fix it, he wanted to fix it, he didn't want to be an outcast especially among his siblings but how could he fix it if he didn't know what was wrong? 

Donald walked out of the houseboat and was about to head into the manor when he saw Huey sitting outside, that wasn't unusual what was unusual was that he was alone. He knew his kids well and he knew Huey didn't like being alone when he didn't have to be. 

Something was really wrong. 

He changed his course to where Huey was and sat next to him, "What's going on kiddo?" 

"Something's wrong with me." He said quietly and Donald's immediate thought was panic before he noticed that Huey didn't seem worried just sad and calmed himself down a bit. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Dewey and Louie were talking about boys they like but I wasn't interested."

Donald paused for a second, he had his suspicions but he wanted to be sure, "You could be a late bloomer." 

"Maybe but I've never even had a crush on a teacher and I've never even thought about romance."

"And thinking about it now?" 

Huey knew what he thought about it, he had been outside for a while before his Uncle found him, "I think it's pretty gross and I don't see the appeal in it honestly. I don't want anything to do with it."  

That pretty much confirmed Donald's suspicions. "There's nothing wrong with you, you could be aromantic."

Huey thought for a moment, "I think I've heard Louie say that before." 

"It means you don't have an attraction to anyone." Aromantic, not being attracted to anyone, that felt... right. Like coming home in a weird sense and having a label meant that nothing was wrong with him like he thought, that there were other people like him. But that didn't matter the most to him, what mattered most was what his family thought. 

"You don't think that's weird?" Huey tried not to prepare himself for the worst but couldn't help but do it. Donald noticed the look on his face and became angry, why did people have to hate something just because it was different? He didn't want that for any of his kids and hated that people were like that so he quickly tried to reassure Huey, 

"Who am I to judge? I was accepting of your siblings and I'm accepting of you."

Huey gave him the first real smile he had made in a few hours, "Thanks Uncle Donald." 

Donald smiled back and put an arm around him, "It's no trouble," He paused, "There's gonna be a lot of people who'll tell you some messed up things about being aromantic more so than what you're siblings will have to deal with, but just know one thing: they're wrong. You are valid, your identity is valid, if someone says otherwise they're the ones who are messed up, not you." 

Huey looked up at him, "Why are people like that?" 

He sighed, "I don't know kiddo I really don't." Well that wasn't very comforting, Huey hoped he wouldn't have to deal with this kinda people for a while. But maybe he should keep this one to himself not that many people needed to know anyway, he could only think of three. He also hoped that they would be okay with it and this time when he tried not prepare for the worst he succeeded, he had always been accepting of them why wouldn't they be of him? But if that were the case, why did he have doubts about his Uncle?  Of course he would have no problems with it, Uncle Donald always supported them. 

And when he saw him about to head into the house he knew what he had to do, "I'm sorry I doubted you Uncle Donald." 

Donald looked at him, "I get it. A lot fewer people are accepting of aromanticism than other orientations but I will always be accepting of you kids, okay? All that matters to me is that you're safe and happy... And when you decide to tell the others I know they'll feel the same way." Huey looked at him kinda surprised, he sometimes forgot that Dewey and Louie weren't the only ones who knew him well. 

"I know it's just... I'm nervous, this stuff is hard to talk about." 

Donald put a hand on him, "You can do it, I know you can." 

He could this. 

* * *

He could do this, Huey repeated in his head for the hundredth time as he reached his door, it was just his siblings and it was just the biggest thing he's ever realized about himself, 

Oh boy.

He hesitantly opened the door which paused the conversation currently happening and the three of them looked at each other for a few moments as he gathered the courage to talk. Huey really didn't know how to start this discussion but knew he had to, he wanted them to know no matter what happened afterward. 

"I have something to tell you guys," He faltered, "I've been thinking about it for a while and after talking about it with Uncle Donald I've figured it out... I'm aromantic." Huey waited impatiently for their responses but was pleasantly surprised by what they were, 

"Thanks for telling us, I know how hard it must've been." Dewey replied with a smile from his new spot on the floor. "You're okay with it, right? You don't think anything's wrong with you or that you're broken?" 

"Not anymore. Once I found out there was a label for it it was like something switched." He confessed to the two of them. "Everything suddenly made sense, I didn't feel so alone. Knowing there are enough people who feel the same way for there to be a label for it... it changed everything." 

"Good." Louie said from the same spot they were in earlier. "That's really good Hue but why didn't you come to us with it first?" They asked curiously and a little hurt. 

Huey sighed, "I needed an honest opinion and I knew what you guys would say." Dewey got up from his spot on the floor defensively. He knew there was only one person Huey went to for an honest opinion or what he thought was an honest opinion anyway, 

"What did Webby say?" Louie also got defensive in their own way and he sighed again. 

"I asked her if she thought there was something weird with me cause I never liked anyone and she said she didn't know. She then added that maybe she wasn't the best person to go to about this stuff since she's just as limited on romantic interaction as we are. And then I started going on about how something had to be wrong with me and you guys wouldn't wanna hang out with me anymore. She tried to reassure me that wasn't the case and that I wasn't wrong just different but I still felt wrong." He paused for a second to try to collect himself, "I know otherwise now but a few hours ago? I was terrified that there was something else that ostracized me and there is, just cause I'm okay with it doesn't mean it's normal."

"Normal's boring." Louie said quietly and coming from the sibling who less than a month ago wanted nothing more than to be normal it meant a lot. 

"It is. But you know me, I wanna fit in." 

Dewey made a face at that, if there was one thing he never understood about Huey it was that. "Why? Wouldn't you rather be who you really are than just another copy?" Huey shrugged as he joined him on the floor. He liked who he was, he really did but it could be tiring being known as the 'weird' triplet. 

"Fine. You don't wanna be who really are? We want you to be. Who cares what everyone else thinks? We like who you are, no matter how weird it is." Dewey lightly teased him and Huey smiled slightly. "But you being aromantic isn't weird dude it's just another thing that makes you Huey." 

"We're all different, none of us are normal, you fit right in with us." And they were right, they both were, he didn't wanna fit in with everyone else just them. Which he did he never really had any doubts about that. 

"Thanks guys." 

"Hey, so would you be weirded out if we talked about our crushes in front of you?" Dewey questioned him after a few minutes of silence and he thought about it for a second, would he? He wasn't weirded out earlier or even uncomfortable and just because he couldn't relate didn't mean he had any right to tell them to not talk about it, that wasn't very fair. Besides, he wanted to hear about their crushes, he wanted to know everything he could about them. 

"I don't mind." He answered truthfully and his siblings nodded at him before they fell back into silence. The day had been a rollercoaster for him but despite it all he wouldn't change even a single thing. He found out a very important thing about himself and suddenly a lot more things started making sense, he loved learning new things about who he was and as far as he was now concerned this was just another thing to learn more about. But most importantly, he learned how much his family was really there for him and that was something he wouldn't trade knowing for anything.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidenote: Huey's views through most of this chapter are not my own just what he's thinking. Everyone's orientations are valid and everyone deserves the chance to be happy no matter what their definition of happiness is. Love you all.


	38. Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey comes to terms with being the 'weird' triplet.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Huey knew he was the weird triplet and he was fine with that, better him than one of his siblings, until he wasn't. After he got Harold in trouble he seemed to have it out for him, relentlessly picking on him whenever his siblings weren't with him and again he was fine with that he just wished it wouldn't cause him so much doubt. He liked who he was but he was starting not to, he didn't want to be weird and he didn't want to be left behind because of it. Especially by his siblings, he knew what they said but he also knew they were just saying that to make him feel better. 

Probably. Maybe. He could be just telling himself that, he wasn't too sure of much right now and that scared him more than anything. 

He supposed Harold got under his skin more than he cared to admit, made him question things about himself that he thought he was confident about, made him think things he'd rather not. And now he was thinking that it wasn't okay for him to be weird. So he did what he did when he found out something upsetting, he hid. He knew someone would find him eventually and that would be fine then but now he wanted to be alone.

Too bad he didn't get what he wanted. 

He felt someone sit next to him after a few minutes and sighed he knew exactly who it was, the same person who always found him, Louie. He looked at them, they were next to him on the floor on their phone and didn't look like they were gonna say anything anytime soon. They were gonna wait for him to talk just like always but this time he really didn't feel like talking so they were probably gonna be here for a while. 

"What's up with you?" Louie finally said after some time and he turned back to them wondering how to answer that. He could tell them the truth and have a conversation he really didn't want to have or he could lie but they would find out eventually and be very upset. 

"Nothing." He settled on. "Just wanted to be alone." 

"I know you're lying but okay." Or they could find out immediately and be upset, that could happen too. 

"Sorry, I just... don't wanna talk about it right now."

"You could've just said that, I'm not Uncle Donald." They pointed out and Huey let out a small laugh he loved his Uncle but meek was one thing he was not. 

"You're right I should've but it's nothing I can't handle, honest." Louie nodded but he had a small doubt, was he being honest? Could he handle this? He had been dealing with being weird his whole life and he had dealt with bullies before but this time was different. It was like Harold knew everything he felt insecure about and used it against him. It wasn't fair, why did only bullies seem to know that? 

"If you say so." Louie said clearly not believing him. "Whatever it is, you're wrong about it it's just your mind working against you, trust me I know." They paused then looked at him worriedly, "It's not about being ace right?" 

He jumped slightly and set to deny that, "No! Nothing like that, I'm okay with it, really. You guys and Uncle Donald were more than enough help in that department, this is something else but I've got in under control I just needed some alone time to sort things out." 

"Okay, cause I'd really hate for you to hate yourself over something you can't control." Huey didn't say anything in response to that, he wouldn't say he hated himself, far from it but there were some things about him that he could live without, being weird being one of them. And no offense to Louie but he knew they wouldn't understand, they had dealt with being different not weird and there was a difference in his eyes, a big one. 

The person who could probably understand him the most right now was Webby, none of them thought she was bad weird but being trapped in a manor for ten years didn't exactly make you normal. Maybe she could help him somehow. But that would mean talking about something he wasn't ready to talk about yet and that was the last thing he wanted to do. So until that time came he was stuck, great. 

What he really needed right now was to get his mind off of it, he just needed a distraction for a few hours. He turned to Louie before quickly dismissing that thought, he didn't want to use them like that but he was curious about one thing, 

"How do you always know how to find me?" 

They shrugged, "It's a gift." He blinked, gift. There had to be more to it than that, then again it was Louie and sometimes things were what they seemed with them. It could be hard to tell especially in moments like this where it wasn't the front thought in his mind. Keeping that in mind, he chose not to question it any further. 

"How do you always know when one of us is upset?" That was a good question, he wasn't too sure of it himself but he knew it had something to do with his intuition. 

"Part of being an older brother I suppose." He knew they were probably having similar thoughts to him a few minutes ago and tried to think of more to say but couldn't. He didn't know how else to explain it. 

"There's just somethings you know, you know?" He offered and Louie furrowed their eyebrows at him in bemusement. 

"No." They said flatly. "That's confusing, why are you being confusing?" 

Huey shrugged with a smile, "Guess I'm just in that sorta mood." Louie looked at him strangely, 

"Right.." They brushed it off and went back to their phone but he couldn't, that just cemented into his mind that his weirdness was a bad thing. Even his siblings thought so, it didn't matter that Louie was here right now one day they wouldn't be and neither would anyone else and he would be all alone. He knew that was why this bothered him so much, one of his biggest fears was being alone it was he tried so hard to fit in. But no matter how hard he tried he had to face facts, 

He would never fit in. 

* * *

Huey realized his best chance at getting a handle on this weird thing wasn't in the manor but in one of Uncle Scrooge's labs and that's why he asked his Uncle Donald to go visit it, even if that's not what he told him. He had told him he wanted to see what scientific things Cousin Fethry was up to which wasn't a complete lie he really did want to see that, he just happened to have ulterior motives. Donald had looked at him wearily but eventually agreed to take him, it was no secret that he and Scrooge didn't like Fethry too much but Huey did and he needed his help. 

After he assured his Uncle he would be fine for a couple of hours and that he had his phone and would call if he had to, Donald drove off and he went inside. He looked around in wonder, so many things he didn't know where to begin! But, he reminded himself, that was for later right now he was on a mission, as soon as he finished that thought Fethry walked in and perked up when he saw him, 

"Little Donald! Greetings!" He looked around, "Where's Donald?" 

"He's busy." Huey replied remorsefully he wanted to tell him the truth but he didn't know how he would handle it. 

"Right." Oh, looked like he got it anyway. "What brings you here? Eager to see what some of sciences greatest minds have to offer?" 

"Yeah!" He cheered but then stopped himself, mission he reminded himself again, "Actually I wanted to talk to you about something and it kinda has to stay between us, for now at least." 

Fethry looked at him apprehensively but gestured for him to sit down in one of the chairs next to where he had sat, "What's going on?" 

He did sit and wondered how to start then decided to just rip the bandaid off, "How do you deal with being so weird?" 

Fethry blinked, "What do you mean?" Huey sighed, oh boy. 

"Like you just seem so comfortable with who you are despite your...eccentricities, how do you do it?" 

"I just do I guess." 

"But aren't you worried about what other people think?" 

"... Not really, never stopped too, what's the word? Think, about it!" To say Huey was confused would be an understatement, this was not at all how he pictured this conversation going. How could Cousin Fethry never have thought about it? Sometimes it was all he thought about, he was starting to think this was hopeless. But then he got an idea, he didn't know if it was a good one but it was one nonetheless. 

"... What about Uncle Scrooge he basically left you in the sea lab as a janitor because of how weird you are, doesn't that bother you?" 

Fethry sighed, "Of course it bothers me that's why I try not to think about it. Look, little Donald, I know I'm weird and I know people don't typically like being around me for too long and it can get lonely. But! Now I'm here and I'm around people with the same interests as me and yeah I wish they didn't do that but it's in the past and I can't focus on the past it distracts from the present." 

"... But what about my future?" He asked quietly as he looked down. "What if everyone leaves me because of how weird I am? What if I ended up all alone?" 

Fethry stared at him and noticed how down he really was about all of this, he was really worried. He hadn't of known him for very long but he knew he had to cheer him up, "I haven't known you guys very long but I don't have to to know your brother cares about you very much and that he would never leave you alone." 

"I'm a triplet, I have two other siblings, and an honorary sister." 

Fethry smiled at him, "Well I don't have to know them to know they wouldn't leave you either, you're an amazing person little Donald no matter how weird you may be. And it's not a bad thing, it makes you special and there's nothing wrong with being special."

"Thanks Cousin Fethry." He didn't know if he felt completely better but he did have some hope. He should have more faith in his siblings, sure they may bicker and argue sometimes but they always had each other's backs no matter what. He was ride or die with Dewey and Louie and while he wasn't quite there with Webby he was confident that they would always be there for each other.  

"No problem, now do you wanna see what I've been working on?" Huey perked up at that and eagerly nodded so Fethry hopped off his chair and led him to his work station. As he showed him various things Huey got lost in thought, he thought it was so cool how Cousin Fethry was so comfortable with who he was, weirdness and all. It made him think that he could eventually be that confident but until then he had people to help him. 

And he had people to help too. Huey saw how downridden his cousin was when he brought up Uncle Scrooge and knew he had to do something to fix it. Things were a little better now but they were still pushing him away and that wasn't right, family was supposed to stick together. He also knew what it was like to be excluded and wouldn't wish that on anyone, he knew he had to help and he knew he needed some help to help... Or something like that. 

Which is why when his Uncle came to pick him up he asked him why he didn't like Fethry and he explained that he didn't not like Fethry, he could just be a little much sometimes. He then continued by saying how easy it was to lose touch with people you aren't particularly close with as you grow up and how after what happened with their Mom it was easier to just not talk to the other members of their family. 

"But that was a mistake." Donald admitted. "Just because something's easier doesn't mean it's right. We shouldn't have done that to him. I shouldn't have done that to him. We were the Duck Cousins but after Della... we were lost, nobody knew what to do. And with you guys on the way... I had to make sacrifices to keep you safe, which I don't regret at all but I could've tried harder to keep in touch with some of them."

"You were busy." Huey offered quietly and Donald smiled at him. 

"I was. The past is in the past we can't fix it but we can fix the present and the future... Why did you really wanna come here Huey?" 

Huey sighed, time to come clean, well to one person, "I wanted to see how he dealt with being so weird... and everyone abandoning him." 

"Huey... we're not gonna abandon you. I know what Scrooge and I did to Fethry and I know how wrong it was, we're not gonna make the mistake again especially with one of you kids." Well, that may him feel better but there was still one more thing he had to do. 

* * *

He had to come clean to his siblings about what had been bugging him, he would omit certain details like the fact that Harold was messing with him but they deserved to know all of it even if they weren't getting it, yet. So when he got home he went to search for them after thanking his Uncle for the ride and talk. He found them in the den watching TV and got their attention; when Louie saw who it was they raised an eyebrow at him, 

"Finally gonna say what's wrong." 

"Yeah... I've just been feeling kinda not sure about myself, like I'm not confident about some parts of myself and I don't know I felt like you guys would leave me one day over how weird I am. I know that's not the case now! But I was really worried there for a while, which is why I went to see Cousin Fethry. I'm okay now er, I will be but I wanted to tell you anyway." 

"We coulda helped." Dewey said and his other siblings nodded in agreement which made him sadly smile. Huey knew they probably would've tried but like he said earlier, none of them had ever dealt with being weird. However he wanted to reassure them nonetheless, 

"I know but he was the best person to go to with this. He's had the most experience in this field and I knew he could help me the best and he did. Plus I got to see what he's been working on so win-win." 

"Well I'm glad you're doing better with it." Webby offered. "It can be hard coming to terms with that stuff, I still have trouble sometimes, but if I can do it so can you. I'll help in any way I can."

"So will we." Dewey promised and Huey's smiled became happier, 

"Thanks guys." He then sat next to the three of them and as he tried to figure out how to start the next thing, "I'm sorry for doubting you guys I just... you guys know me and you know that one of my biggest fears is being all alone and I don't know how to deal with that. I like who I am but I'm still working on being confident with it," He made a face, "Confidence isn't my strong suit, not like it's yours." The others stared at him bewildered and Dewey took it upon himself to set Huey straight, 

"What?" Dewey asked confused. "I'm not really confident, fake it till you make it. There's also a lot of things _I_ don't like about myself but I guess it's just easier for some people to act like there isn't. And it's okay if it isn't for you but you should be confident, you're really great I couldn't ask for a better bigger brother." 

"I wasn't always this confident," Webby started making the triplets turn to her, "For many years I was really insecure, I still am really insecure. I haven't known you guys long but... I don't know what I'd do without you. And I'm always so worried about doing something that drives you guys away that I end up not being my complete honest self." She started messing with her fingers nervously. "And I hate when I do that so I try to act like I don't, that I'm not at all worried about losing you guys which I don't think works very well." The triplets nodded and Huey looked at her curiously, 

"Why haven't you said something sooner?" 

"You guys have always been busy with your own problems, I didn't wanna give you more to worry about. That's not what friends do." 

" _Siblings_ also don't keep things from each other." Louie pointed out. "Though I'm probably not one to talk." 

Dewey ignored the last part and put a hand on Webby, "We're not going anywhere. You're just as much family to us as we are to each other." As the attention turned to Webby for a second Huey allowed himself to think. Knowing his siblings weren't as confident as he thought really helped him and sure they weren't dealing with the same things but that didn't mean they couldn't help each other. 

"We can help each other with this whole thing." Huey offered. "I want to be secure in who I am and I want that for you guys too so let's help each other." His siblings smiled at him and agreed and at that moment he realized how lucky he was to have siblings like the three of them. No one else would be this supportive of him and of each other, there was no one else he felt he could pour his heart out to and be completely understood. But there was still something else to take care of, 

"There's something else I want to talk to you guys about, I'm sure you all know the relationship between our Uncles and Cousin Fethry is... rocky at best and I want to do something about it but I need help." 

The three of them glanced at each other, "What can we do?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay first Fethry chapter! So excited to be writing him, hopefully I have more chances for him to show up. Sorry if it's not the best, it's my first ever time writing him, if you guys have any suggestions for improvement please let me know!


	39. Oldest Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey deals with being an older brother.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Huey loved being an older brother he really did but it could be demanding sometimes, always having to put others before yourself and always having to be responsible, it was hard. But no matter how much his Uncle Donald told him to stop no matter how much his siblings told him he didn't have to, he still did it and he didn't plan on stopping anytime soon. No matter how tired it made him and he was so tired lately. 

But his siblings noticed because they notice everything and tried to help him which he appreciated but it didn't really help as much as they hoped it would. He had hope but he really didn't think they would, he was stuck and nothing could pull him out. He wasn't sure he wanted to be pulled out, if he didn't look out for them who would? If he wasn't their older brother, their protector no one else would be, he knew that and he accepted it no matter how hard it made things for him. At this point he wasn't sure he could stop even if he wanted to, he had been that role for too long and there was no going back as far as he was concerned. 

And he knew he didn't want to. 

He loved his siblings, he loved being there for them he could handle the hard things about it if it meant that could continue. But sometimes... sometimes he needed a break, he needed some time to himself to deal with his own problems. He knew he could go to his siblings with those problems like they did with him and each other but something always stopped him and they always had to seek him out, he tried working on it he really did but it just wasn't sticking. And he knew they were patient but patience only goes so far and eventually they'll get mad at him for it and he won't know how to handle it. 

He never handled them getting mad at him well. 

Luckily it didn't happen too much and it was usually Dewey, and it was usually mutual so he knew how to handle that, once he calmed down. But they could never stay mad at each other for too long it just wasn't in them. And he could always count on them when it mattered, they were the best younger siblings he could ask for, that's probably why he cherished being their older brother so much and took it in stride and hardly complained. He really couldn't ask for better siblings. 

However right now Huey needed to be alone and he needed to not be found for a while. So even though he went to the same spot he always went to when he wanted to hide he trusted Dewey and Louie understood not to bother him and that they would tell Webby. He was really glad those two got him so well and that he got them just as well so he knew that they would want to talk to him as soon as he came out of isolation and he needed to be prepared for that. He could already guess how the conversation was going to go and what they were going to say. But he didn't know what he would say and how he would react, cause as much as he knew them, they always managed to surprise him.

It was made being their older brother so exciting, they could be unpredictable sometimes but he still knew when they were gonna be unpredictable and knew how to prepare for it, well as much as he could. They weren't so unpredictable that he didn't know how to talk to them but they weren't so predictable that hanging out with them became boring. They were complicated and complex and one of his favorite things to do was to be around them if nothing more than to study them in a way, he couldn't help them if he didn't know how. And he always wanted nothing more than to help them. 

So in his mind all the hardships he had to go through, all the worrying, all the stress, was worth it. If he got to continue to be their older brother, if he got to continue to help them everything he had to go through was worth it. And as long as he kept that in mind he knew he would be okay, no matter what happened to him he would be okay if they were okay, that was all that mattered to him. They were all that mattered to him. 

He got out of his spot with that resolution in his head and went to go find his siblings to let them know he was okay. He just hoped they believed him, they had always had the ability to read him very well so if they sensed even the tiniest thing off about him... they would find out things he didn't even wanna think about. It was just easier to push those things in the back of his mind but if anyone could pull it out of him it was them. And while he was glad they knew him so well it also scared him, they made him confront things he didn't want to or things he thought he wasn't ready to confront all to help him, but if someone had to know him that well he was glad it was them. 

Huey found the three of them in the study of Webby's room doing something with her board, he took a closer look and saw it was stuff about Mom. He thought they would've waited for him but understood why they might not have wanted to and knew they would fill him in at some point. Louie noticed him first, because Louie always noticed someone first, and asked him how he was doing. 

"I'm doing better now. What is all this?" As they all started to explain he noticed Dewey and Louie giving him subtle looks every few minutes and tried to ignore them. He was fine he really was, he already worked through everything. He didn't need their help with this anymore but man did he want it and he knew how to get it he just, couldn't.

When they finished their explanation he stared at the board thoughtfully then offered his own ideas as he pushed back his earlier thoughts to worry about at a later date. It wasn't the smartest thing to do but it was what he had to do at the moment, he couldn't think about that stuff anymore. But he was already in too deep and his resolutions about it quickly came crumbling apart, he attempted to hide it but his siblings saw through it and tried to get him to talk to them. He couldn't do it. 

He rapidly ran out of the room and went to his own room to try to calm himself down. He could hear knocking from the door but ignored it, he couldn't deal with them right now. He had to worry about himself for a minute and honestly? He didn't like it, he wasn't selfish and this was kind of selfish, he looked at the door and thought about getting up and opening it but then decided against it it would just make things worse. 

He just needed to be alone. 

* * *

Eventually the knocking stopped which made Huey sigh in relief and made him a little worried hopefully they just decided to leave him alone. By now he had calmed down a little bit his decision to push everything to the back of his mind wasn't a good idea and he knew that when he did it so he had to deal with the consequences. Which he would do later with his siblings and maybe his Uncles it depended on what his siblings were doing right now but there were still things he had to deal with right now. His own thoughts. 

And his own thoughts were not as kind as his siblings, his thoughts right now only wanted to make him feel worse and he couldn't do anything to stop them. The only people that could had left and now he was alone, just like he wanted only he didn't know if he wanted it anymore. But he knew he needed it and he knew he had to actually had to think through these things rationally, he just didn't know if he could do it. Which was silly thinking rationally was what he was known for but when it came to himself? He didn't know how and he didn't think he was ready to deal with those thoughts, he was too conflicted right now he couldn't think rationally. No matter how much he wanted to and he really wanted to it would make things so much easier. But this wasn't an easy topic and it wouldn't be solved easily or at once like he hoped. 

No, this would take some time and he would have to do most of it on his own cause this was coming from inside and as much as his siblings tried they couldn't change how he thought. And right now he didn't know how he thought he just knew they were very jumbled and that he couldn't make sense of them no matter how much he tried. So he didn't try, if it was easier to not make sense of them right now then he would just let them run through his head. 

Huey knew the responsibility that came with being the oldest brother and he knew he took it and immediately accepted it without a second thought but he also knew how stressed and tired it made him and how he couldn't ever really think about himself because the others always had problems. He loved helping them with their problems but it sucked that they had so many just because of how hard it made it for them. But it sometimes felt like he couldn't go to them with his problems, like he had to hide them, from everyone and he knew that was his own fault but he couldn't stop it, they had enough on their plates they didn't need more. 

But it made things so hard for him, dealing with everything on his own even if he chose to do it but he wouldn't undo that choice for anything, because he really did love being the oldest brother. That's why he was so conflicted, how could he like and not like something at the same time? Well he wouldn't say he didn't like it just that it was difficult at times but he was still conflicted and he hated when he was conflicted. He hated when he immediately didn't understand something especially when that something was himself and he hated how scared the unknown made him. He didn't know why it scared him it just, did but maybe if he could figure out why it scared him it would stop, he doubted it though. 

So for now he just handled the fear and did what he could to suppress it, it didn't work very well. And the fear always had a way of showing up at the worst time, like a couple of minutes ago, and left him to deal with the consequences, which he would since he was responsible but he wish he didn't have to. Sometimes he wished he didn't have to deal with consequences and could just do things but he knew that wasn't possible. And that was fair, everyone had to deal with consequences but it seemed like he had to deal with more. But it probably seemed that way to everybody, that they had to deal with the most consequences so he really couldn't complain. 

But man did Huey want to. 

He wanted to scream and shout about how unfair all of this could be, about how just because he was the oldest didn't mean he had to be the one to be like this, to deal with all of this. Just because he was the oldest didn't mean he had to be grown up, he was ten for crying out loud! He shouldn't have to be grown up, he should get to be a kid he shouldn't have to worry about all this stuff or be constantly stressed out he should just get to be Huey, that was all he wanted to be. 

Why couldn't he ever be that? Wasn't that enough?

It used to be but now? He wasn't so sure, he needed help. And he knew where to get it he just had to go get it but he really didn't feel like getting out of his bed so he was stuck in the meanwhile, at least until they came back. Or he could call them, that could work too. He searched for his phone with as much energy as he could muster but found it nowhere in his bed, he looked towards his desk forebodingly and plopped his head on his pillow. 

After a while the door opened, he barely lifted his head to see who it was and saw it was Dewey and Louie cautiously peering in. He gave them a small smile to let them know it was okay to come in and they did then made their way to his bed. They sat opposite of where he was laying and waited for him to talk. 

He did as he looked at the ceiling to avoid their eyes, "I'm sorry for running off earlier, I got overwhelmed. I don't know what's been going on with me lately and it really scares me, I've just been conflicted about so many things and I haven't known how to deal with it." 

"Why didn't you tell us?" 

"You guys have been going through so much I didn't want to add on to it." 

"For someone so smart you're kinda stupid sometimes," Dewey said which made Huey look at him surprised. "You always help us with our problems no matter what you have going on. Why don't you think we'd do the same?" 

He sat up, "It's not that, I knew you guys would help me if I asked I just didn't want to." 

"What have you been so confused about?" Louie asked him quietly and he sighed, 

"... I don't like how responsible I have to be all the time and that just because I'm the oldest I have to be all grown up, it's not fair. But I do like being the oldest I like being able to look after you guys and I knew what came with that and I'm okay with it. I just need a break sometimes and it makes me feel selfish, I don't like being selfish."

"There's a difference between selfish and self-care." Louie pointed out. "No one blames you for needing a break, we all need a break." 

"I blame me." Huey admitted. "I can't, I can't let you guys down I could never live with myself if I did."

"Stupid." Dewey repeated angrily with a glare. "How could you _ever_ let us down? You're our brother and that's all that matters." 

"But-"

"That's all that matters." That couldn't be all that mattered, that couldn't be right, it couldn't be that easy. He wasn't just their brother he was their older brother and being the oldest wasn't easy. But they never expected too much from him anyway, he did, other people did but not them, never them and he loved them so much for it. 

"You don't have to be so hard on yourself so much, you're great." 

He was great. 

* * *

But he still had another problem, he felt like people always put too much on him and he needed to do something about it before something really bad happened. So he went to find the one person he knew would listen to him, even if he didn't know how to start the conversation. And he really didn't know how to start the conversation. 

By the time he got to the houseboat he was completely nervous which he realistically didn't need to be but that was what happened when he didn't know what to say. He had too many thoughts in his head right now but he knew this had to be done and he knew it had to happen now. So he went into the houseboat and looked around for his Uncle, he found him sleeping in the living room chair and debated on whether or not he should wake him. But that was decided for him when he woke up anyway, 

"Huey? What are you doing here?" Donald asked him curiously and he looked at him seriously, 

"I need your help. I don't like that people have so many expectations for me, it's too much sometimes it makes me feel like-"

"The weight of the world is on your shoulders." Donald said understandingly.  "How long have you been feeling like this?" 

"For a while now I guess." 

"Huey..."

"I know I know I should've said something sooner. I'm sorry but it's hard to talk about it and I never know where to start but I knew I had to say something now, it's all I've been thinking about lately. I've just been so confused about some many things and I've tried to sort through everything but I'm getting nowhere, it just makes me so tired Uncle Donald." 

Donald looked at him sympathetically and patted the arm of his chair, "You're not supposed to know everything and if anyone tells you otherwise don't listen to them cause they're wrong. It's okay to be confused about yourself sometimes, everyone is and in the times you are confused lean on the people who know you, they'll set you right. And if you wanna take some time for yourself sometimes that's okay too no one will think any less of you."  

"Why do I feel so bad about wanna some time for myself?" 

"Cause you're Huey and that's part of who you are. But I'm going to tell you that it's not a bad thing and that if don't do it you're going to fall apart. And no one wants that." 

"I don't either. But what if it's already happening?"

"Then you lean on the people who care about you and let us help you." That sounded easy enough, he had always done that for them so he should let them do it for him.  However it could be hard to lean on people, admitting you need help it wasn't exactly his strong suit but if they want to help him he would let them. He would do anything for the people he cared about. 

"You said you wanted my help. What if I talked to the other adults about all this?" 

Huey perked up at that, "Yes that would really help! Well maybe not about all of this, but most of it sure!" 

Donald laughed, "Okay I will do that. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Huey thought about it for a moment, 

"No the rest I have to do, it's my problem after all."

"Doesn't mean you have to face it on your own. Family always helps family." 

Huey nodded, "I know but this changes I have to make, I have to stop stressing myself out so much and take a break every now and then... I've seen what falling apart did to my siblings, I don't want that to happen to me too. I don't know if I could pick myself back up I'm not strong enough." 

Donald gave him a look, "You are strong enough. You're not any less than your siblings and you can figure a way out of this... mess you're in." He ruffled Huey's head feathers and he beamed up at him. With his family backing him there wasn't anything he couldn't do. 

As the triplets were getting ready for bed Huey started thinking and of course his siblings noticed but he wasn't paying them any attention, he was too busy spiraling. He wanted to start thinking of himself more but he didn't know how he didn't even know where to start. He knew he could do it he was just missing something but what? 

When he got that thought his siblings managed to finally get his attention and he looked at them startled, "What?" 

"What are you thinking about?" 

"How hard it'll be to start doing things for myself." Huey admitted quietly and his siblings shared a glance and a nod, seemed they were gonna try to fix this. They still didn't get it though, he had to do it. Not them. 

"Then don't." 

He looked at Dewey shocked, "What?" 

"What I mean is, you've spent your whole life taking care of us and right now we want you to take care of yourself, so take care of us by taking care of yourself." Huey nodded, that's what he was missing that was the final piece in this whole mess of a puzzle. And it started where this whole thing began, with him being an older brother which was convenient cause that was that he knew how to do best. 

He just hoped he never mess that up. 


	40. Now We're Stressed Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey's stressed out.  
> Set during Brother Blues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to name it that I had to!

Huey sighed as he looked over his homework for the thousandth time, he wanted to make sure it was perfect. He would've done it sooner but his siblings needed help with theirs and he was the only one around who could do it. Which he didn't mind, he was glad they came to him when they needed help but it usually meant he had to put his own homework second. And he minded that, first it was one mistake on something he didn't double check then he was missing problems completely then he was failing! 

'Breathe Huey Breathe.' He reminded himself as he tried to calm down, that couldn't happen he was too smart he would just have to try harder. And try harder he did, but with everything going on his life he was beginning to get stressed out. He thought about maybe taking a break but quickly dismissed that thought he had too much going on to take a break ~~and he was too stubborn to~~. So for now he would just deal with everything, everyone counted on him too much anyway. 

The one relief he had during this was the Junior Woodchucks, right now it was the only activity he really looked forward to and lucky for him he was headed there right now. Uncle Donald was taking him and Louie to their respective things, Dewey chose to stay home since he didn't have any which made sense but Huey thought he would've at least rode with them. Especially knowing how Louie got when it was time for them to go to therapy. 

They were boredly messing with their phone but he could tell that they were anxious so he tried to comfort them. "There's nothing wrong with needing help and it's good to talk about your problems particularly with someone who knows how to help." 

Louie sighed, "I know it's just, hard. All the attention is on me for a whole hour, it's unnerving." 

"It doesn't have to be the thing to focus on is that you're getting actual professional help." 

"I guess."  

After he got dropped off at the Junior Woodchucks sight he excitedly joined them eager to get all sorts of new badges. They kind of shied away from him but it was sadly nothing he wasn't used to. He quickly forgot about it though and started talking to Launchpad instead which made him happy as he hadn't seen much of him lately because they were going on fewer adventures at the insistence of their Uncle Donald. Everyone had issues they had to deal with right now and going on high impacted adventures all the time wouldn't help that. However they were still going on enough to stress him out, at least one a week! And no matter how much the majority of them complained to Scrooge that didn't change. He said that they had to go on some which didn't make any sense to him but he wasn't good with confrontation so he kept it to himself. 

When Uncle Donald came to pick him up he noticed how quiet Louie was and tried to talk to them but they wouldn't budge, something was seriously bothering them and he didn't know what. And that stressed him out more than anything. He hated not knowing what was up with his siblings and how keen they were to hide it from him; he knew why they did it, they thought he had enough going on but he was never to busy for them. It stressed him out more not knowing something than knowing it he just wished they realized it, and maybe they did but still felt it was better to keep things to themselves. He didn't know which was worse. 

As soon as they got home Dewey ran to them and asked them how their things went. 

"Fun!" He answered firstly, "I got three badges!" He showed them to Dewey who ooed in response then they both turned to Louie who shrugged and trudged to the kitchen. 

"Umm...?"  

"They're just a little off right now, you know how they get after their sessions." 

"They were really quiet the whole ride home." Huey added on looking after them. Donald sighed and bent down to their level then placed a hand on each of them, 

"They will be fine let's just give them a few hours." Both of them nodded and Donald got up smiling at them, 

"Lunch?" 

When lunch was done the boys decided to hang out in the den after Donald had refused their help with the boat. They had both shrugged it off but were kinda hurt he didn't want it. A little while later Louie had come down and sat with them but didn't say anything so they didn't either, they didn't want to push them. So they sat in silence for some time and waited for Louie to get comfortable enough to say something. And after about thirty minutes they did, 

"I don't wanna feel like there's something wrong with me every time I go to therapy." They said without looking away from the TV, their brothers stared at them and waited for them to elaborate. 

"Did someone say something?" Dewey prompted after they didn't; they quickly shook their head and sighed, 

"No nothing like that just, I see all sorts of people there you know? And they've all got major problems, like borderline hospital problems and it makes me think something's really wrong with me." 

"Uncle Scrooge wanted to send you to the best therapists, they usually deal with major problems." Huey put an arm on them comfortingly, "Doesn't mean you have major problems."

They shrugged, "I guess." It was silent for a few seconds as their brothers tried to figure out what else to say and surprisingly Dewey was the first to find the words. 

"You don't have a major problem, just a lot of little ones but you're getting better, we can all see it and that's what matters. There is something wrong with you, that's why you're going in the first place and that's okay. You're not perfect Louie, you're human and that's a part of being human." 

Louie nodded, "Makes sense, I guess there's some wrong with all of us." 

"Well then," Huey spoke up looking at both of them, "It's a good thing we have each other." His siblings agreed and Louie leaned back between the two of them. 

"We'll always have each other, right?" Their brothers looked at him, 

"Right." They nodded and turned back to the TV satisfied so the other two did too. It was kind of funny but it was relieving to know he wasn't the only one who worried about that. A weight lifted off of him, one less thing to be stressed about but there were a million other things he was still anxious about. And since he wasn't the focus right now it seemed like he wouldn't be getting any help. Which was fine, his siblings clearly needed it more and he was happy they were getting it even if a little part of him wished he was getting some too. 

* * *

Huey was glad his siblings were helping each other out with their problems but he couldn't help but think, if they could help each other so easily where did he fit in? He didn't know but he didn't like where his thoughts were going. This was just something else to add to his growing weight of problems and sooner or later he was gonna snap and he didn't know how to stop it. It was gonna happen and there was nothing he could to stop it, he didn't even know if he wanted to stop it anymore he just knew he couldn't continue on like this. 

But there was nothing _he_ could do about it everyone depended on him too much he couldn't let them down so he had to carry these burdens alone. He had to do everything on his own. And he used to be okay with it but now it was so much one person couldn't handle it on their own it was physically impossible and he certainly couldn't do it, he was the least likely person to be able to do it. But for some reason fate had made him the oldest so he had to, he didn't have a choice it was just what the oldest did. 

That didn't mean it didn't stress him out. 

Quite the contrary actually, it stressed him out a great deal and that wasn't the only thing going on in his life he had school, Junior Woodchucks, the random adventures and that was just the tip of the iceberg! He had so much going on especially for a ten year old and he used to be so on top of it but then something changed and he didn't know what... Actually he did, his siblings had started being more open with their problems and that took up a lot of his time. He wasn't blaming them for it or anything! He was glad they were being open but those were the facts and facts don't lie. However if he had to sacrifice some of his own time to help them he would happily do it, he would do anything for his siblings. 

The problem with that mentality is that he put himself second and rarely ever worried about his own problems until it was too late and as a result became super stressed. It kept getting worse and showed no signs of getting better and that only stressed him out more, it was like a cycle with no ending in sight. And that was the worst feeling in the world. He constantly felt sick and started getting angry at nothing, the looks on everyone faces when he snapped at them for no reason were looks he never wanted to see again. But he pushed them away whenever they wanted to help convinced that he didn't deserve it so nothing was getting done about it. 

Huey had finally had enough of everything and angrily went to his room. He slammed the door open he stood there not noticing the other occupant in the room then slammed the door shut and started pacing. 

"Dude?" He heard after a few moments and turned towards the tri-bunk bed where his brother was in surprise then sighed as he tried to calm himself down. 

"Sorry, I'm just mad."

Dewey snorted, "Obviously. What about?" 

He rubbed his head, "Everything. I've just been so stressed out lately." 

Dewey hopped down to the floor and landed next to him, "Why?"

'Unbelievable.' Huey thought as he glared at him, "Why? What do you mean why?!" Dewey sighed and glanced away which made him frown he really needed to get a better hold on his anger. 

"I can't read your mind Huebert but I'm guessing it's you trying to be 'Mr. Responsible-For-Everyone' again." 

Huey blinked. How did they always know him so well? "Something like that." 

"What so just because you're the oldest you have to be like super dependable?"

"Yes!"

"The whole world doesn't rest on your shoulders Huey!" Huey gaped at him, "You don't have to carry everyone burdens just because of your place in the triplet hierarchy." It was a nice thought but it just wasn't true. 

"Everyone's counting on me-"

"You're ten Huebert they shouldn't be. You're still a kid, don't let them take that away for you, don't let you take that away from you. You don't have to do it alone that's what siblings are for." He placed a hand on him, "We're here for you Huey you just have to let us be." 

Huey grinned and hugged him, that was exactly what he needed to hear right now. "Thank you. You know you're better at this than you think." He noticed how could he not have? His brother had been so down lately but just like him didn't want to talk about it lucky for him he was good at reading his siblings. Dewey brushed him off and let go of him, Huey gave him a look but dropped it, there were more important things to worry about right now.  

"Feeling better?" Huey noticed his hopeful tone which made him smile, 

"Yeah, thanks to you Dewdrop."

Dewey groaned and pushed him, "No, that nickname cannot be back."

"But it's a good one!" Huey smirked then rubbed his head, Dewey pushed him again and that made his smirk turn back into a smile. He was always glad when they started teasing each other it meant things were okay again. Or that they were going to be but he liked both options so it really didn't matter which one it was. 

He was still stressed though. 

* * *

Later that day Huey was at his wit's end his talk with Dewey earlier helped, a lot, but he was still strained and so tired. He wanted nothing more than to forget about everything going on even for just a few hours and he had no way to do it. He's stuck. 

Or he was stuck until his siblings made him slow down which he was grateful for, he knew he wouldn't have stopped otherwise. And so did they, that's why they made him stop and the three of them all knew that they were the only ones he would listen to about this everyone else was pretty easy to ignore, they refused to be. He would never ignore them anyway, that was crossing a line he never wanted to cross. 

So he was to relax for the rest of the evening, which was more than fine with him, and not worry about a thing. That part was easier said than done and they all knew it thus they were currently distracting him or trying to. It was kind of working but him doing absolutely nothing meant his mind was racing and that was never a good thing, it was why he kept himself so busy. The only problem with that was it stressed him out just as much as his thoughts so no matter what he did he was always stressed. 

He was nudged out of his thoughts by his siblings yelling his name. "Wha?" He asked them confused. 

"It's your turn." Webby replied, she joined them when she noticed they were playing games, and he gave them a sheepish look before taking his turn. The four of them were currently playing SORRY and while that was one of his favorite games it was doing almost nothing to distract him and his siblings noticed. 

"Maybe we should do something else." Louie suggested but Dewey started to protest,  

"But I'm winning!" They looked at the board where Dewey was in fact not winning, he was in dead last actually and Webby was winning but that was beside the point. Well mostly. 

"We're trying to give Huey a break," They reminded him. "It doesn't work if he's still stressing about stuff." 

"I'm not-" The other three looked at him, "Okay I am but that's not your guys' fault, my mind just doesn't know how to stop." 

"We get it, all of our minds are like that but it's not good to stress yourself out so," Webby clapped her hands. "What're we doing next?" They continued doing different activities but nothing ended up working and he got more despondent as each one went on. Eventually Huey had enough and thanked them for trying to help before going back to his room, he felt like he was about to blow up at any second from all the stress and didn't want to do that to them. They hadn't done anything wrong, that would've just made him feel worse. 

But as soon as he got in his bed the door opened and Dewey and Louie walked in, "I hope you know you can't just keep walking away from everyone." Louie said as they both climbed up to his bed.  

Huey sighed, "I know. I just don't want to blow up at you guys, you've done nothing wrong and even if you had..." 

"You would've felt bad." Dewey finished and his brother nodded. 

"I'm really tired guys." 

They both looked at him with a sad smile, "We know." He laid down and stared at the ceiling as his siblings shared a glance then laid down on either side of him. 

"Try and get some sleep." Dewey offered quietly although they all knew it was more of a demand. 

"Not that kinda tired." 

"Maybe sleep will help with your kind too." He pressed his shoulder gently into his brothers and got settled into the bed as Louie did the same. Huey gave a small smile as he watched them, leave it to the two people who knew him best to not give up on him. But perhaps Dewey was right, maybe a good nights sleep would help him he really hoped it would. And if he were tired in the morning? 

Well, he knew they would still be there. 


	41. Sick Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey gets sick.  
> Set sometime during season two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is my obligatory sick one-shot, sorry for the short break for those of you who don't follow my Tumblr I was taking a short break then focusing on finishing the next chapter of my other story since it had been a while since the last update.

When Huey woke up that morning he instantly knew something was amiss, first off he woke much later than usual and second he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. That wasn't like him at all he was normally the one who had no issues waking up unless...

Oh no, he was sick. 

If there was one thing he hated it was being sick, he felt awful and he had to stay in bed. He did not like having to stay in bed. But he never entertained the thought of keeping it to himself he was a terrible liar and his siblings and Uncle would see through it, there was no point. They probably already knew anyways unless his siblings hadn't woken up yet, he looked down to see if that was the case, it was. He was torn between letting them sleep or letting them know what was going on but since he wanted to sleep longer he decided to tell them later. 

He was about to fall back asleep when he felt movement below him and sighed, looked like he would have to tell them now. A few moments later he sensed eyes on him and turned to see Dewey observing him curiously. 

"Why're you still in bed?"

"I'm sick." Dewey nodded like that was the only plausible explanation and to be fair it probably was, like he said he usually had no issues waking up. 

"Should I get uncle Donald?"

"It's been a while since he's had an actual day off, I'll be fine." He assured his brother who gave him a skeptical look,

"You do remember what happened last time you were sick right?" He did, very well. It was hard to forget a hospital visit, especially if it was your own. 

"That was different I doubt I'm gonna get pneumonia again." 

"Still..." Huey sat up as much as he could've and smiled reassuringly at him, 

"I'm going to be fine, I have the best medics in the world after all." That seemed to cheer Dewey up so he layed back down and closed his eyes. A few seconds later however they popped back open when he felt more movement and saw that Louie had joined them.

"When'd you wake up?" Dewey asked as he moved onto the bed so they could climb further up the ladder and they shrugged. 

"So you're sick huh?" Their brothers looked at them suspiciously, 

"Were you listening to our conversation?" 

"No but it's," They looked at Huey's clock. "Half an hour past nine I figured that was the only explanation for why I hadn't been woken up earlier. Not that I mind." 

"Yeah I'm sick, but it's nothing to be worried about!" He quickly added knowing them well. "It's probably just the same thing you guys had a while back. I'll be fine once I get some sleep and medicine."

"On it!" Dewey hopped down to the floor and went to search through their sick supplies for medicine. While he did that Louie climbed into the spot he previously occupied and overlooked their brother worriedly. They remembered the last time Huey was sick all too well, while it wasn't their only visit to the hospital it was certainly the scariest for them, their brothers might have a different answer though. 

"Hey!" Dewey said when he noticed where Louie was. They gave him a pretend questioning look as he gave Huey his medicine and he elbowed them annoyed then forcefully sat down right next to them so that they had to move over. Once they both got settled in they carefully watched a drowsy Huey; he would've kept trying to reassure them he would be okay but he could feel himself slipping off to sleep and was out after a few minutes. When he was sure his brother was completely asleep Dewey climbed out of the bed, 

"He's gonna hate me for this but I'm getting Uncle Donald." He explained to a confused Louie who nodded and turned their attention to their sleeping brother. He thought about saying something to comfort them but knew whatever he could muster up would be a lie so he just patted them on the arm and left to find their Uncle. 

He found him working on the houseboat and thought about turning around but Huey was more important. "Uncle Donald!" He called to get his attention. Donald whirled around surprised and almost fell off the ladder he was on but caught himself and stared at a guilty looking Dewey. 

"What did you do?" 

"What no, nothing Huey's sick." 

Donald sighed and got off the ladder. "He didn't want me to get you," Dewey explained as Donald made his way over to him. "But I knew you had to know. It doesn't look too serious I gave him some medicine and he's sleeping now... this won't be like last time will it?" 

Donald sighed again, "It's true we have to look after him more and he's more likely to get seriously sick but that doesn't mean he will. You said it doesn't look serious so for now, we just have to keep an eye out. Besides, as long as he takes medicine and gets rest and fluids it'll go away in a few days." 

"I hope you're right Uncle Donald I don't know if I can go through that again." That whole hospital visit still haunted him, he wasn't sure he would ever get completely over it. 

"I don't know if any of us can go through that again Dewey." 

* * *

When he got back with his Uncle he saw Louie quickly dry their eyes and turn towards them, "Nothing's changed." They said quietly sounding a bit relieved but all of them knew that this was just the beginning and that they still had a long way to go before they could fully relax.  

"I'm gonna go tell the others what's going on. Are either of you hungry?" They both nodded and he left. After that Dewey climbed back up to where his siblings were then sat in his previous spot next to Louie. 

"So much has happened and we haven't even had breakfast." He softly noted and Louie half-heartedly agreed. 

"I don't know why I said I was hungry, I don't think I can eat right now." They didn't think they could do much of anything right now except worry, they would be more than happy when this was all over and Huey was healthy again. 

"You should, it would just stress Huey out if he found out you weren't eating and that's the last thing he needs right now. But... I get it. I keep thinking about what if and we only found out a few minutes ago! These next couple of days are gonna suck." As if hearing his brothers worry Huey suddenly shot out a hand and reached for them. They both grabbed it back and then helped him lay back down. 

"Even when he's sick he's thinking of us." Dewey said with a disbelieving laugh. Louie started to tear up again so he grabbed them and pulled them close to him; they managed to give him a weak smile before turning their attention back to Huey. He couldn't blame them he wanted to keep Huey in his sight as much as he could. 

A few moments later they heard the door open but neither looked towards it knowing it was just their Uncle. He watched them with a sigh, he knew they wouldn't leave their brother's side until he was better. Not that he could blame them he wasn't planning on leaving Huey's side much either; he handed them their food but somehow knew they wouldn't eat much. Something was better than nothing though. 

Not much happened for the next couple of hours and soon enough Huey was awake again. He didn't look any worse which was good news but he didn't look better either and the longer he stayed sick the more chance there was it could turn serious. When he saw his Uncle he weakly glared at his brother but didn't say anything, he didn't have the energy to fight. Besides, he didn't wanna be mad at his siblings right now, not when they were so worried about him. 

"Can I have some more medicine?" Donald looked at his phone for the time and saw that it was already past three so he nodded and wondered where the hours went. After Huey took his medicine he laid back down and tried and failed to keep down a coughing fit. The others worriedly watched him, once he settled down Dewey put a hand on his forehead and immediately pulled it away. 

"His temperature's gone up." He told the others distressed and Donald thought for a few seconds before going to the bathroom and getting a cold rag. When he got back to the room he put it on Huey's head. 

"That should help and so should the medicine, there's not too much cause for alarm yet." 

"He doesn't look too good." Louie argued as he fell back asleep and Dewey agreed, he really didn't. Donald knew that as well as they did but he also knew Huey would unfortunately get worse before he got better. Hopefully he wouldn't get too worse, any worse and he would have to go to the hospital, not that his kids needed to know that, it would just panic them. 

"I know but he probably looks worse than he feels." 

"You don't really believe that do you?" Louie correctly guessed and Donald nodded but still refused to tell them just how bad Huey was getting. Realistically it wasn't that bad but because Huey had pneumonia before he had a higher chance of getting seriously sick and honestly Donald didn't know if his body could handle that. He sure hoped it could though. 

"It's Huey. He'll be fine." Dewey tried to comfort but even he looked like he didn't believe it. 

If there was one thing Louie hated it was being lied and right now both of their awake family members were doing that. They knew they were just trying to protect them but they wished they'd stopped, they knew how bad Huey was getting it was glaringly obvious. And they also knew lying wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't make him magically better no matter what they said, he was still sick and he was still getting sicker by the moment. And there was nothing any of them could do about it, they couldn't force him to get better only his body could and right now it looked like it didn't want to. 

But they knew Huey and knew he would never stop fighting, it just wasn't in their brother to give up that usually fell to them. They didn't want to but life was stupidly hard sometimes and when they did give up it was their brothers who would pull them back again. They couldn't lose one of them, they'd be completely lost without them. 

Dewey had as much hope as he could right now, someone had to be the strong one and that always fell to him. But truthfully he was just as scared as Louie was and they knew it too. He didn't like lying to them but it didn't feel like lying because he really did believe it, even if it wasn't a lot of belief. It was all he had right now and he was hanging on to it as much as he could. He couldn't lose Huey, he couldn't lose either of his siblings he didn't know what he'd do without either of them and he didn't wanna find out. He almost has for enough times to last a lifetime anyway and he was very content with that, well not content but the alternative was much worse. 

He didn't like thinking about it but it times like this it was all he could think about and the person who could normally pull him out of those thoughts was probably having worse ones. And he hated that more than him having those thoughts but until Huey was better he knew neither of them would stop thinking about it. 

The next time Huey woke up the others were eating dinner and they weren't alone, everyone else was there too. That made him feel good he hoped everyone would be there for each other while he was like this. The earliest residences of McDuck Manor may not have been there when he had pneumonia but he had no doubt they were just as worried. Dewey noticed his brother was awake he set his plate on the bed and carefully checked him over and Huey let him. He didn't feel any worse but knew it would make both his siblings feel better. 

When he determined his brother was no different Dewey went back to eating but paused when he thought that eating in front of Huey might not have been the best idea. Huey assured him that it was fine and it was, he didn't feel nauseous just really ill. The only thing that really bugged him about them constantly being up there was how close they were to him but he knew there was nothing he could do about it, they weren't leaving his side until he was better. And he couldn't blame them, he'd be the same way if it was one of them. 

"You haven't eaten all day, wanna try?" Donald asked after Dewey had started eating again. Huey thought about it for a second, he probably should try to eat and drink something, he should definitely do that. Medicine could only do so much after all. 

He agreed and his Uncle was about to get up when Mrs. Beakley beat him to the punch. She left before he could protest so he sighed and looked at the time, it was still a couple of hours away from when Huey could take medicine again but he didn't seem to need any right now which was good. After Mrs. Beakley came back and handed Huey some light food she collected everyone else's plates and told Webby to not stay in there too long. Webby pouted but agreed, they didn't need anyone else getting sick too and everyone else knew what to do to not get sick. Well, except maybe Scrooge but he hadn't gotten in sick in years according to her Granny. 

She left after a few minutes due to both of her Uncles telling her to, the others protested but she told them it was fine. Before they knew it it was time for Huey to take more medicine and for the other two to go to bed. They were hesitant to even though they knew their Uncles would watch over him, they were just too convinced something bad would happen while they weren't alert. But eventually they fell asleep and Donald and Scrooge prepared for a long night as Huey sleepily watched his siblings hoping he would stay asleep for more than a couple of hours. He was so tired, no matter how much he slept, and hoped their sleeping would be enough for him to too. 

And lucky for him, it was. 

* * *

Over the course of the next couple of days not much changed and everyone wasn't sure how they felt about that. They all wanted Huey to get better but it was looking like he just had a normal cold. Donald and Scrooge were in and out, they tried to be around as much as they could but they had work. Webby stopped by as much as her Granny would let her but was never able to stay too long. Mrs. Beakley always came to give the three of them food and checked in on them often when their Uncles were at work, but Dewey and Louie hadn't left his side at all, they were too scared to. And he was just as scared of being alone right now so he never said anything but he did keep an eye on them as much as he could to see if they showed any signs of getting sick. So far they hadn't. 

But it seemed like this was be over pretty soon he was starting to feel better, he didn't need so much sleep and could eat a lot more, it looked like the worst of it was finally over. He still wasn't out of the park though and there was still a very strong chance this could turn south but he was hopeful and it appeared like the others were starting to be too. 

"Got any 5's?" Louie asked breaking him out of his thoughts, right they were playing go fish he should probably be paying attention. Luckily though Louie wasn't asking him and even if they were he was sure they wouldn't take it personally, he had a hard time concentrating right now and they all knew it. He looked at his cards to figure out his next move but found his vision was blurry so he blinked a couple of times to see if that would help. It didn't. If anything it made it worse, he hoped that wasn't some sort of sign and tried to look to the best of his abilities. 

"Got any... 3's?" He asked Louie who sighed and handed one over; he smiled as he got it and put down his pair for them both to see. 

"Huey that's not a 3." Dewey said after his brother put his cards down. Huey looked again and saw he was right so he blushed and picked them both back up. 

"Sorry my visions a little blurry right now." 

"Gonna be hard to play a card game like that." Louie noted but he brushed them off, 

"I'll be fine, your turn Dewey." The game continued until they realized none of them would ever win and they started playing a different game instead. Everything was going fine until Huey started coughing. When he stopped he reached for his juice and took a big drink as his siblings whispered between themselves. He knew they were discussing whether or not to get their Uncle but he gently shut that down, he was fine it was just a coughing fit no need to worry anyone else. 

"If you're sure." Dewey begrudgingly agreed and they went back to the game. 

He was sure. He was getting better he knew it, he had to be. 

There wasn't another incident until a few hours later, their Uncles had just come back from work and the triplets were updating them on what happened while they were gone. Which, other than the coughing fit, was nothing it really seemed like Huey was getting better but as soon as that thought came he started coughing again. Everyone worriedly watched waiting for it to stop but unlike the previous times, it didn't. It was getting worse in fact and Dewey started hitting his brothers back hoping that would somehow help and curiously enough, it did. Huey finally stopped and the others let out a sigh of relief but were still cautious; this didn't seem fair he was getting better and now it looked like he wasn't. 

Huey laid back down becoming tired after his coughing fit and tried to get some sleep, maybe that would help just a little sleep... 

When Huey woke up next he wasn't in his room, he didn't know where he was actually just that it was very bright. As soon as his eyes came into focus he realized that it was a hospital and that he hadn't been getting as better as he hoped. Next he felt that he wasn't alone in the bed and that Dewey and Louie were asleep but still clinging onto him, looked like he gave everyone a scare. 

Of course he did. 

His siblings must've felt he was awake cause they also woke up. The three of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Huey's siblings lunged and hugged him. He felt kind of weak but let them hug him anyway, he knew they all needed it.

"You've gotta stop doing this." Dewey said when the hug broke apart. Huey feebly laughed and agreed, he didn't wanna keep doing this either. 

"What happened? After I fell asleep?" His siblings glanced at each other. 

"You didn't fall asleep." Louie hesitantly answered him after a few seconds. "You passed out, turned out your body started taking a turn for the worst. You've been out for two days." 

"And you two have been here the whole time haven't you?" Huey asked knowingly and they both looked at him sheepishly. 

"Everyone has but yeah we haven't left your side. Uncle Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley just got Uncle Donald to get some air, I'm pretty sure Webby went with them? I'm mean I'm guessing she did since she's not here. Sorta fell asleep after they left..." Dewey rubbed his neck embarrassed. 

"We both did it's been a long couple of days. And don't you dare apologize." Louie interrupted themself when they noticed Huey open his mouth. "It wasn't your fault you got sick. We're just glad you're okay." 

"I've never been more relieved in my life." Dewey added on and Huey smiled at the both of them before getting comfortable again. He was still kind of tired and he had a long road of recovery ahead of him but as his siblings laid down next to him, he knew he wouldn't do it alone. 


	42. Aftermath of Sick Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone deals with the aftermath of Huey's hospitalization.  
> Set after Sick Part 3.

The next few days after Huey woke up were kind of boring if he was honest, all he did was lay in bed and yeah he knew he needed it but he hated that he needed it and the hospital bed was not that comfortable. He slept a lot during those days so there wasn't too much time to dwell on it and by the time he was fully rested up he was being checked out of the hospital. Which he was very glad for, now he could rest in the comfort of his own home.

But he wasn't the only one who was glad, everyone else was too, in fact they were probably more excited then he was however he blamed that on his currently weak body. He knew he would have to stay in bed for a couple of more days and even if he didn't want to his family would make sure he did. And that was fine with him, he was glad they cared about him so much, even if his Uncle Donald was being a little more overprotective than usual right now. He understood why, he remembered the last time someone other than him was hospitalized, it hadn't been fun at all. 

So that's why he was so surprised that after being put on bedrest the first people he saw were Webby and his Uncle Scrooge. It wasn't that he wasn't close to them or anything but his immediate family hadn't left him alone after he woke up and he had no reason to believe that wouldn't continue now that they were back home. But for some reason it didn't and it made him very confused which wasn't a good thing for a healing person to be. Luckily for him that confusion didn't last very long although it didn't mean he liked the reason why. 

"Why do they need a break?" He demanded to know, it wasn't like this was the first time he got sick, they had been fine then. Well, fine was the wrong word but they didn't leave him. What made this time so different? 

Scrooge hesitated not wanting to upset him before deciding he needed to know, "Huey lad they've been sat with yew since before ye woke up. They haven't slept they've barely eaten, they need ta look after themselves just as much as they want ta look after yew." 

Huey looked down, he knew his Uncle was right, he didn't want them to forget themselves just to look after him. He would be fine for a while without them, plus it looked like Scrooge and Webby were gonna keep him company which he didn't mind at all. But by the way Webby climbed up to his bed he could tell they wanted to talk to him about something. And the scary thing with the two of them is that he didn't know what. He hadn't known them long enough that he was able to predict what they were going to do so he went into the conversation feeling a little uneasy. 

"Did ye know at all yer were gettin' worse?" Scrooge questioned him after a few seconds. 

"No." He answered honestly. He really didn't, he thought he was getting better. 

Scrooge nodded then sighed. "Ae dinnae think ae need ta tell yew how worried everyane was. And ae know how bad yew must feel fer makin' us worry but this wasn't yer fault. None o' this was." He said giving Huey a pointed look. "Ae know how ye think lad and ae'm tellin' yew that it's wrong and that all yew should be worryin' aboot right now is gettin' better." 

"It's not that easy." He protested. 

"It's not." Scrooge agreed. "But it's what yew have ta do. Let the rest o' us worry aboot everthin' else." Huey didn't have an answer for that. He knew that no matter what his Uncle said he was gonna worry but he also knew that that wasn't what he wanted to hear. And he wouldn't have the chance to come up with an answer because Webby fiercely hugged him and all his attention went to her. 

"I'm okay." He assured her patting her back comfortingly. 

"You almost weren't! You could've died! The others told us what happened last time you were sick and how bad this could've gotten and it did get that bad! I can't lose any of you guys you're my best friends... my family." She started getting quiet, "I know I'm not a triplet and that I haven't known you long but I still care about you a lot... I don't know what I'd do without you." 

"Webby..." Huey trailed off awed. "I care about you just as much as I care about my other siblings, you're my sister! And I'm not going anywhere I don't leave the people I care about. I don't leave my family." 

Webby started sobbing, "I was so scared!" She wailed out which broke his heart, the thought of Webby being scared of anything, well it was like the thought of Dewey being scared of anything, almost impossible to imagine. And he knew very well that they could get scared but actually seeing it... that was another story. 

"I was pretty scared too." He admitted, cause he was. He woke up in an unfamiliar place and was told he passed out and he had been out for two days, that was terrifying. But what was even more terrifying was seeing how scared everyone else was. "But I'm okay now." 

"Until the next time you get sick." She stubbornly countered. 

"I'll get through that too." Huey didn't know how to get her to understand. She wasn't like Dewey and Louie, she didn't know when he was just saying something to make someone feel better and when he actually meant what he was saying. He looked at Scrooge for help but he didn't offer any, and it was at this time he was starting to miss the others. They would know how to help. 

"I don't know what you want me to say Webby, I can't promise that I won't get sick again or that I won't end up in the hospital again, I can't promise that just like everyone else can't. But I can promise to try." He feebly offered hoping that would be enough, if it wasn't he wouldn't know what to do. 

"I guess I can be okay with that." She slowly let go of him but didn't leave his side. "You're good at keeping promises right?" 

"The best." He confirmed with a small smile. She smiled back and he knew that they would be okay. But there was still someone else in the room that wasn't. 

"Uncle Scrooge?" Huey questioned quietly, he had noticed how quiet his Uncle had gotten and now that he had kind of sorted things out with Webby he could place his full attention on him. 

Scrooge sighed, "Yew kids have changed me life fer the better ae cannae go back ta how it was befer and ae know that if somethin' happened ta ane o' yew it would. So just really try and keep that promise okay lad." 

"Okay." He nodded, "Okay, yeah I'll do that." He said in a voice that suggested he knew there was more that was going on. All of the kids had that voice but Scrooge knew that Huey was the only one of them that didn't push it. But it really wasn't his issue anyway, he had to focus on getting better if not for his own sake then for everyone else's cause the others weren't doing to good right now. None of them were but those three were a wreck, it was like they didn't know how to function and it was really starting to worry him. 

* * *

After Scrooge and Webby left his immediate family came in, they looked a little better which he was really thankful for. His siblings climbed up and took their spots next to him; he settled in between feeling much better than he did previously. But like before he knew they wanted to talk to him only this time he didn't feel uneasy about it, he was expecting it actually. Louie leaned their head on him and he grabbed their hand, he knew how hard they always took things like this. And he let Dewey press into him for some sort of comfort, he knew how helpless he felt in situations like this. 

He also knew how tired they all were their Uncle especially and couldn't help but feel bad about it. "How are you feeling Huey?" Donald asked him tiredly plopping down in the desk chair. 

"Okay. I think I'm really starting to get better." He said trying to lift everyone's spirits, it didn't work. 

"Good that's good." Donald nodded and sighed, "Just focus on getting better we really don't need you back in the hospital." 

"I will." He promised then tried to get something out of his siblings, anything. It would be much better than this silence, it just wasn't like them. 

"You wouldn't wake up." Dewey whispered. "No matter how much we yelled or shook you you wouldn't wake up. You were getting better I just don't understand how this happened. I really thought that you would never wake up this time, do you know how scary that is? I thought we were going to lose you." He finished trying to hold back his tears. 

"You didn't. I'm not going anywhere." 

"For now." Everyone turned to Louie who was bitterly looking down clenching their hands. "But what about when this happens again? It's not like you'll never get sick again. What then?" 

"I'll get better then too." He tried to reassure them but they weren't having it. 

"How do you know?" They demanded to know. "This time was too close of a call, how do you know next time won't be worse?" They all turned to Huey and Donald was about to speak up but he shook his head, he had to do this. 

"Because I know there is nothing on earth that could ever make me leave you guys. You matter way too much to me for me to ever leave, it's just not gonna happen. No matter what happens I will never leave you." His siblings started choking up and tightly hugged him. He hugged them back as he tried to comfort them but ended up crying himself. Donald made his way up the ladder and carefully grabbed the three of them then settled in Huey's bed and started to soothe them.

Once they calmed down a little they continued talking though they chose to stay in their Uncle's arms, he always made them feel safe. "I know that this wasn't my fault but I'm still sorry for all of this. I hate doing this to everyone I hate putting you guys through this." 

Donald sighed and patted Huey's head. "I know you do kiddo but you're not putting us through anything, you're family Huey we worry about you no matter what." 

"Yeah like we've been saying we're just glad you're okay," Dewey said wiping his eye. "And yeah that was really scary but we'll get past it eventually just like you'll get better." 

"You don't have anything to be sorry for." Louie said quietly. "Don't blame yourself for any of this okay?" 

And because it was his siblings asking he knew he could do it. "Okay. Are you guys gonna be okay?" He knew he would be but he also knew how he would be if it were any of them in his position and that wouldn't be okay or even close to it. 

"We will be." Louie promised.

"I'd tell you not to worry about that but I know that you wouldn't listen. But right now you need to worry about yourself too." Donald sternly but gently said and Huey could agree to that, on one condition. 

"Only if you guys look after yourselves." He didn't want them to not take care of themselves because they were too worried about him that would just make him feel worse. 

"Deal." Following that Huey started getting tired again and fell asleep after a few minutes. And once he did that the other two looked at their Uncle and he instantly understood there was more to this than they were admitting. He knew he had to get it out of them before they dwelled on it for too long but he also knew that it wouldn't be easy. Those two were hard to get much out of when they were really upset. 

"What else is going on?" 

"... Did we get him sick?" Donald had to admit that wasn't where he thought this was going but wasn't surprised they were both worried about that, even if he knew it wasn't true. 

"No, he could've gotten sick from anything, this wasn't either of your faults." 

"But-" 

"No buts," Donald interrupted Dewey gently. "Even if he didn't get sick now he would have eventually." 

"It shouldn't have gotten this bad." Louie protested trying not to cry again. 

"It shouldn't have." Donald agreed because Huey really shouldn't have had to go through this, none of them should've. "But it did and there's nothing we can do about it now, all we can do is help him get better because he will get better." He had to really stress that last part, they both needed to know that he would be okay. But it seems they already did, they always had an immeasurable amount of fate in their oldest brother and this time was clearly no different. 

And as Huey got better so would the rest of the family, eventually this whole thing would be like a bad dream and none of them could wait until the day that happened. 

* * *

When Huey woke up he wasn't alone but he may as well been as the others were fast asleep. That was good, they really needed it and it would give him time to process everything. According to the others he almost died, that was a lot to take in and he wasn't sure he would ever be okay with that. Coming to terms with something like that... it would be a really hard thing to do.

But, he was sure he could do it it would just take some time and right now he had plenty of time, it's not like he was expected to do anything else but lay around. And as boring as that would get he knew it would be good for him. He wanted to relax before and now he had to. He knew he had to relax even before he got sick, this had to be his body's way of making him. Maybe if he had actually managed to do it before he wouldn't have gotten sick but he couldn't dwell on that now, well he could but it wouldn't have been healthy. 

He guessed his biggest issue with all of this was if he did end up... dying he would be leaving the others behind. And he knew he told his siblings he would never do that but it still scared him that he easily could have. He could've left them and while most of them would maybe bounce back Dewey and Louie never would and that thought terrified him more than anything. More than actually dying, more than getting that sick again, he wouldn't know what to do with himself if that ever happened, because he would probably be restless in his grave with guilt if it did. 

Huey never really imagined what it'd be like to lose one of them, sure he had nightmares about it occasionally but they were nothing that couldn't ever be smoothed over with soft reassurances. However when things like this happened it was all the three of them thought about. He remembered the last time Dewey was in the hospital, because he was being over reckless again, he had barely slept.

Just the thought of losing either of them was always enough to give him a panic attack. So, he knew what they were going through right now and he knew they would never forgive him if he left them. He wouldn't forgive himself either. The thought of them never being okay again... he couldn't even fathom it but he knew that's how it would be if he ever did, die. They would be losing a part of themselves, they would never be whole again and it would be all his fault, he couldn't do that to them. 

That's how he was so sure he would never leave them, that no matter how sick or injured he got he would always bounce back. He loved them too much to ever put them through something like that. He loved his whole family too much to ever do something like that. But he couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if he actually did die, he even knew how everyone would react. That was the bad thing about having all this time to think about this, his mind was too active it didn't know how to ever shut off and it always led to morbid thoughts. 

But he knew he had to think of them it was the only way he could get over this, it was part of the healing process. He had to go through everything even the really bad stuff, even if he didn't want to. He passed out, for two days and he thought he was sleeping, that was terrifying! What if something worse happened and he just thought he was asleep? Everyone would be suffering again and he would have no way of knowing. Something would be seriously wrong with him and he wouldn't know, he would think everything was fine! 

He could have died. 

He could have  **died.**

Huey knew the signs of a panic attack from a mile away and quickly looked around to ground himself. His family was still peacefully asleep but his Uncle's grip had tightened on all of them, like he could feel something was wrong.

This was real. They were real. He was okay, he didn't die he survived.

He let out a wet chuckle, he survived! He was hospitalized and he survived. He got seriously sick and he survived. He survived, he survived, he **survived**! He started sob laughing but kept it quiet, all this time he had been looking at this completely wrong, he didn't almost die, well he did but, he survived! He was a survivor. And he had never been more happy in his entire life. 

But he knew the happy moment couldn't last forever and that was okay because the most important thing would, he was still here and he wasn't going anywhere.

The others finally heard all the noise and woke up to see Huey crying. They were instantly worried and asked him if he was okay and he turned to them with a giant smile on his face which was surprising to them to say the least. 

"I'm better than okay I'm great!" He hugged all of them the best he could've with them all bundled like this. They hugged him back but were still confused and voiced that confusion so he pulled back from them and explained. "Guys I'm still here, don't you get it? I survived! I was in the hospital seriously sick and I survived! I've never felt so great." His grin got even wider as impossible as that was and it turned out to be infectious as the others started grinning too. 

"So you're really getting better?" Dewey asked hopefully. 

"I am, I really am." His siblings hugged him again and he grinned at his Uncle as he hugged them back. Donald smiled at him as well glad that things were starting to be okay again. He had to admit he never thought of it that way as he was sure everyone else didn't but he was happy Huey could see it like that, it was enough for the rest of them to too. 

As Huey sat and talked more with his immediate family he thought about how crazy and tiring this last few days had been, but it was all over now and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds once more. 

And he was so happy. 


	43. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey deals with nightmares.  
> Set sometime during Season Two.

If there was one thing Huey hated it was getting his sleep disturbed. Now he was normally very peacefully but it was hard to be that way if he didn't get his full 8 hours of sleep. So when he was woken up at about one in the morning he wasn't happy. He became even more unhappy when he saw the reason why was a very scared Louie, he wasn't mad at them but he was worried, it wasn't often one of his siblings woke him up in the middle of the night. 

"Louie?" He sleepily asked. "What's wrong?"

They avoided his inquisitive eyes a sure sign something was indeed wrong and mumbled an answer, "I had a nightmare." Huey nodded understandingly and moved over then patted the bed. They gave him a small smile and climbed in, he knew they probably didn't want to talk about it and he got that, he had had his fair share of nightmares over the years. So he didn't make them, they would say something eventually. 

He started to drift back to sleep when he heard muffled crying beside him and quickly wrapped his arms around his sibling to try to calm them down. He didn't want to push them to talk but knew it was the only way they would get over this and get some sleep. "What was it about?" 

Louie shook their head but he persisted and eventually they sighed and told him, "It was dark, so dark that I didn't know where I was. I was alone and scared, I tried calling for you guys, for Uncle Donald but I didn't get an answer. So I tried to find a way out only there wasn't one, I was trapped. Then I started to panic and that was when I began to hear all these voices say different things. 'You're a boy.' 'You're just going through a phase.' 'You're faking it.' That made me panic more, what if they were right? And then I woke up." They started crying again and Huey held them tighter, he really hated that they had those thoughts somewhere inside of them, dreams came from the subconscious after all.  

"Louie if you say you're nonbinary then you're nonbinary and that's all there is to it. And so what if you're going through a phase? Phases are a part of life that doesn't make them any less real. You could wake up tomorrow and decide that you're a boy or a girl and you would still be valid. But what matters is right now and right now you're nonbinary, no one can take that away from you. Not even you." He finished knowingly and Louie looked at him with awe, something they had been doing a lot to their brothers lately like they always managed to surprise them. 

"I don't want to take it away from me, I know who I am. It just gets so hard sometimes and the anxiety doesn't help. Sometimes I think things would be easier if I was a boy." 

"But would you be happy?" He countered. 

"... Not really." 

"Would you rather things be easy or would you rather be happy?" He already knew the answer but Louie had to get there on their own. And after a few moments they did. 

"I'd rather be happy. What does it matter if things are easier if I'm not happy?" Huey smiled at them, there they were. "Even if it's hard to be happy sometimes I'd rather have that than never be happy. Always feeling like something was off or _I_ was off, I sure don't want to go back to that. Thanks Huey." 

"Anytime little sib. Think you can go back to sleep now?" 

"Hopefully. I know how much you need your beauty sleep." They teased him and he pushed them with a laugh. 

"No more than you do." He teased right back and they let out a quiet laugh as well.

Hopeful that everything was resolved Huey settled back into bed and waited for his sibling to do the same before starting to drift off to sleep. But he didn't want to do so before they did just in case so he tried to stay awake as they slowly nodded off. Once he was sure they were fine and would sleep through the rest of the night he nodded off as well. 

They both ended up sleeping through the rest of the night.

* * *

A few nights later he got woken up again and was just as unhappy as the first time, only this time it was because of Dewey which instantly worried him. Out of the three of them Dewey was least likely to go to someone with his problems especially in the middle of the night. Something was seriously wrong. 

"Dew what's up?" 

Dewey let out a quiet sigh. "Just a stupid nightmare." He hesitated. "Can I sleep here tonight?" 

"Of course." Huey responded immediately and moved over. "You know you never have to ask. Do you want to talk about it?" 

"Can we just back to sleep?" Dewey pleaded, oof, this one must have been bad. But, he respected his brother's wishes and nodded. He knew he would eventually talk about it anyway, that his mind wouldn't be able to rest until he did Huey would just have to wait it out. He didn't have to wait long however because Dewey was already talking about it after a few moments. 

"I was back in that room, you know the one I got trapped in a few weeks ago only this time I was alone, like completely alone you guys weren't even in the temple. And I had no way of contacting you guys, I was stuck there. I thought eventually you would come for me but you never did it was like you didn't even notice I was gone or maybe you did but didn't care. Anyway, I woke up just before I, you know and now I'm explaining it to you." Huey had been nodding along with his explanation and was deeply saddened by the time he finished. It was partly his fault Dewey felt like that, he had to make this better. 

"Dewey we would never leave you behind it was just a dream. But I know it came from a very real place and that some part of you is scared we'll do that one day. I'm telling you we won't, we care about you and we would definitely notice if you were missing and we wouldn't stop 'til we found you. That's what family does, that's what we do, no matter how mad we are at each other or how mad we get we're always there for each other and we will always be there for each other." 

"I don't think I've ever been that scared in my entire life and it wasn't even real!" Dewey quietly shouted. 

Huey hummed in understanding. "Nightmares are pretty scary, talking usually helps though. I'm glad you came to someone instead of trying to toughen it out, it takes a big man to admit he needs help." 

His brother absentmindedly nodded but didn't say anything which put Huey back on edge, what else was wrong? "Do you think I'm ever gonna get over that incident?" Dewey silently questioned him. He didn't know how to respond, he didn't know if he would or not. 

"... I don't think you ever truly get over something like that but it's okay, it was traumatic and trauma is not easy to get over. But I think you'll be okay, you're Dewey Duck how could you not be?" 

Dewey smiled at him for the first time since he climbed up here and Huey knew he would be okay. But then his smile turned into a frown. "I don't think I can go back to sleep." He explained. "I'm still too scared." 

Huey inwardly sighed, he really wanted to go back to sleep but if Dewey was too scared then that probably wouldn't be happening. He took care of his siblings, that's just what he did, even at his own expense. Even if it was two in the morning and he was super tired. "Okay, we can stay up. If that's what you want." 

Dewey grabbed his hand, "It is. But it's not what you want so let's go back to sleep." 

"Are you sure?" Dewey nodded and got settled in so he did too. He knew it would be a while before Dewey actually got to sleep considering he didn't want to and he would probably wake up again later with another nightmare. But he would help him through that too, though he would definitely be grumpy in the morning. The things he did for family. Thankfully though Dewey fell asleep after a few minutes, turned out he was more tired than he thought. That gave him hope that this was resolved for now and that his brother would stay asleep for the night. 

So that they could both get some rest. 

* * *

Huey got nightmares the least out of the three of them but it did happen and when it did he didn't know what to do. He couldn't turn to the person his siblings did because that was him and he didn't want to disturb his Uncle who had been working so hard lately. So the only choice he had left was to just deal with it, but this one was pretty bad and he wasn't sure he could, not alone. He didn't even want to think about it but he knew he had to, that was the one way to get past it. 

Too bad if he thought about it too hard he would go into a panic attack. He had to find a way to calm down, so he could process it rationally and go back to sleep. But it seemed like the night had other plans for him and soon he was trying not to cry. He hated having nightmares nothing could ever scare him like his own mind could, it knew him too well. Fortunately for him there were other things that knew him well too, his siblings for example and they could feel by the way he was moving around a few minutes ago that something was wrong. 

So as he was starting to panic they both made their way up to him to see what exactly was going on. They found him on the verge of a panic attack and quickly set to calm him down. They figured he had just woken up from a pretty bad nightmare and was freaking out over it. He got them so little that he usually didn't know what to do on the rare chance he did get them. Luckily they both got them enough to know how to deal with them. 

He had been helping them so much lately, they had to do the same. "Wanna tell us what it was about?" Dewey asked once they got him to calm down. 

"What they're usually about, the three of us are in some sort of building but we're separated and no matter how hard I try I can't find you. All I can hear are your screams..." Huey started crying and his siblings didn't know what else to do but hug him. This wasn't like their recent nightmares it couldn't easily be fixed and it was something all three of them worried about. So they let him cry it out as they tried to think of something to say.

But what could they say? There wasn't anything that could make it better and they both had a feeling there was more to it than what he was saying. They weren't gonna force him to talk about it though, he was in a bad enough shape already. 

"I search every room in that building." Huey continued anyway. "But still nothing, you guys are nowhere to be seen and then the screams stop and I start fearing the worst. And the worse thing is that I don't know if it's a dream or not, I can't tell. It all just seems to real to be able to. Finally I get to the last room, you guys have to be in there there's nowhere else for you to be. So I enter and I'm right but I really wish I wasn't, you were-" 

"Don't." Louie pleaded quietly and he nodded, he didn't want to think about it either. The three of them went silent after that, Huey had nothing else to say and his siblings didn't know how to respond. How can you respond to something like that? 

Dewey seemed to get himself together first and started talking before he really knew what he was saying, all he knew is that he had to get them to feel better. "Huey we're not, we're not gonna... and yeah sometimes we get separated but we always manage to find each other again, why would that ever change? And I'm sorry but you'd have to be crazy to think we'd ever leave you intentional or not. Sure nightmares may be scary but they're just that, nightmares. They're not real even if your fears are and neither can have a hold on you unless you let them." 

"Wow when did you become so wise?" Louie asked jokingly and gave him a smile to let him know they were just teasing. 

"About a couple of weeks ago." He seriously answered anyway. Huey smiled at both of his siblings unbeknownst to them as they were too busy teasing each other. But that's what may him smile it meant that things were getting light-hearted again. 

"Thanks guys." He whispered which made them stop and look at him. 

"We helped?" Dewey said confused. "Cause honestly I was kinda just winging it, I really didn't know what to say." 

"You nailed it." Huey assured him. Because he did, his siblings always knew what to say when it came to him even if they thought they didn't. That was one of the many reasons he loved them. And one of the reasons he knew he would be okay, yeah his nightmare was scary but they were right there and they weren't going anywhere. 

"I think I'm ready to go back to sleep." 

"You're sure?" Louie asked doubtingly. 

"I am. You'll stay here right?" He could not be alone right now but lucky for him they seemed to know that too as they both were very quick to nod. So the three of them got comfortable or tried to. It was a bit of a squeeze with all of them in one bed but it was needed, for all of them. He knew his siblings wouldn't go to sleep until he did, because they were more like him than either of them cared to admit so he tried to go to sleep. 

However it wasn't until he was surrounded on both sides by them that he could even attempt to. They always made him feel safe and now was no different so he knew he wouldn't have any more nightmares, at least not tonight. But he knew they would be there for them too just like he would be with them and he got that this particular one would be on his mind for a while but he would eventually completely get past it. 

Though for now, he needed sleep. 


	44. Selflessness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey selflessness comes back to bite him.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Huey was selfless that was obvious. He constantly put other people in front of him and thought of himself last and he was okay with that, he liked helping other people. And he never really worried about people taking advantage of that because they were always appreciative of his help. But sometimes he spread himself way too thin helping people and that was when his siblings came in.

They knew when he took on way too much and made him stop but he always felt bad when he had to stop so eventually he stopped being so open about all he was doing. And why when someone else asked for his help he didn't tell them at all. It started out small, they needed help with homework and he was more than happy to give it. But soon they constantly needed his help and it was tiring him out. Only he didn't act like it because his siblings could not know he was stretching himself thin again, they would get mad at him for keeping on doing it. And he hated when they were mad at him. 

Though right now he was trying to think of a way to help Claire Quack, the person he had been helping lately, with her family problems as his siblings talked about their crushes. He didn't mean to zone out when they did it but he simply had no interest in the topic and he had other things on his mind. But of course they noticed and tried to get his attention, they knew it wasn't like Huey to zone out. He may have been in his own head a lot but he was always interested in what his siblings said. 

"Huey, Huey?" Dewey waved a hand in front of his brother's face. Huey blinked and looked at his siblings sheepishly. 

"Sorry." 

Louie brushed him off, "Are you gonna finish that?" Which made Huey remember that they were at school, and that it was lunchtime. He gave his sandwich to Louie he wasn't that hungry anymore. But he was glad they were, they were kind of flaky with that sometimes. 

"What's up with you?" Dewey asked and he remembered that his siblings knew him too well. They both looked at him expectantly and he knew he had to answer, even though he didn't want to. 

So, he tried to dismiss it, "Nothing. Just got a lot on my mind."

Louie snorted. "Obviously, like what?" 

"Just different things." He evaded. 

"Huey just tell us!" Dewey replied annoyed. Huey jumped back at that, great they were mad at him and he hadn't even told them. But he had to now there was no way either of them were letting this go. 

Or he could just walk away, that could work too. 

He ignored the shouts behind him and hid against some lockers he knew he would have to face them eventually, they had math together next, but he didn't know what he would say. He had never done something like that before, he didn't know what else to do so he just walked and that wasn't like him. Especially with them. He just didn't want them to be mad at him, they would be no matter what. And he got that he did but that didn't mean it had to be right now. 

"Huey?" A voice said from behind him and he froze before recognizing it was feminine and turned around.  

"Claire? What's up?" 

"Have you figured out a way to help me yet?" He looked at her guiltily and shook his head. He started explaining why and her face slowly became more upset. When he finished up she glared at him which surprised him, he wasn't expecting that response. 

"So you haven't been trying at all?!" She shrieked at him. 

"I have I just had other things going on." He started to back into the lockers as she got closer to him. She was really beginning to scare him. 

"So? I asked you for help! You said you would! Were you lying?!" She demanded to know and he quickly tried to salvage the situation. 

"No! I am going to help, promise." 

"You better I don't like being lied to." She said threateningly and he frantically nodded. She walked off after that which made him sigh in relief as he almost collapsed into the lockers. He was officially in over his head. And unlike other people she wasn't being nice about it, he didn't know how to handle something like that but he knew two people who did. Too bad he had just run away from them, they were mad at him for sure there's no way they would help him. They were both known to hold a grudge even against family. He had never really been on the receiving side of it though but he had a feeling he was about to be. 

It was time for him to face the music. The bell suddenly rang. After school. 

He walked to math and tried to think of a way to tell them. He wanted to know if there was a way he could do it without them getting mad but he had ran away from them so it was too late. Maybe if he had said something before... 

He was broken out of his thoughts by Dewey calling his name, he flinched and ran into the classroom. He sighed as he sat in his seat, he was safe. Then they sat next to him in the same seats they had been in all year and he hit his head. They looked at him worried so he just stared straight at the board to try to ignore them. It didn't work. 

"Huey why did you run off like that? Why didn't you just tell us what's going on?" Dewey asked concerned which astounded Huey he thought they would be mad, he didn't sound mad. 

So he answered, "I thought you would be mad at me." 

"We're more worried than anything. Especially with you running off like that, you don't normally do that." Louie noted. 

"I'll tell you guys after school, I promise." They both seemed satisfied with that and even if they weren't the teacher started talking so they couldn't say anything against it. As class went on Huey started thinking, about what to tell his brothers, about how to help Claire. It got so bad that the teacher realized he wasn't paying attention and called him out. But since he was so smart he was able to solve the question on the board and she couldn't get onto him too much. He started paying attention after that. There was no need for that to happen again. 

There wasn't a need for any of this to happen again. 

* * *

After school the triplets went straight to their room and Huey's siblings wasted no time in trying to get him to talk. He thought about attempting to skirt around it but knew it was time to come clean. So he told them everything. He told them that Claire had asked for his help one day and he didn't see the harm in saying no. He told them how it started simple with just homework but ended up taking most of his time. And he told them about how she was now basically threatening him and that he was very scared of her. 

When he finished they looked at him sympathetically and Dewey pulled him into his arms. "You don't have to help her anymore." 

"Yes I do. I don't wanna know what she'll do if I don't." 

Dewey started brushing his head feathers. "I meeeant that we're gonna take care of it, no one messes with our older brother." 

"I already have five different plans to deal with this." Louie added on. 

"Guys-" 

"Nerp too late we're already doing it!" Dewey cheerfully interrupted him. 

He picked his head up, "I was gonna say thanks. And sorry, I should've told you sooner I just didn't want you to get mad at me for doing this again." 

"We get mad cause we care." Dewey sagely said and Huey knew that, of course he knew that but it didn't change the fact that he didn't like them being mad at him. Even if he deserved it. Like now, he really deserved it right now. 

"We knew this would eventually happen, that didn't mean we had to like it and we don't. You don't deserve to get taken advantage of like that, it's not fair!" Louie started breathing heavily and clinched their fists as Dewey put a comforting hand on them. They were right it wasn't fair, and they all knew it. Or Louie and Dewey thought they did. 

"I don't know," Huey whispered. "Maybe-" 

"No." Dewey interrupted him again. "No this was not your fault it was hers. She's the one who took advantage of you, it's not your fault for being gullible, wait no. That came out wrong! I mean it is not your fault but you're not gullible." Dewey rambled until Louie put a hand on his mouth. They then took it off and nodded after he thanked them. 

"I am gullible, it's okay it's one of the reasons I need you guys so much." 

"We're gonna take care of this." Louie promised him and he nodded, he believed them. He just hoped neither of them would go too far. Cause that was a real possibility but he wouldn't blame them, he would do the same for them. But that didn't mean he wanted anyone to get hurt. 

Too bad that wasn't a possibility. 

The next day Huey was anxiously waiting for lunch time. That was when Claire would approach him and when his siblings would, well he wasn't sure actually, they refused to tell him. He didn't know how to feel about that. Knowing them though it was probably for the better. That didn't stop him from being nervous he was never good with confrontation involving himself. His family sure, his siblings definitely, himself no way. But he wasn't getting out of it he refused to run again. And he knew they wouldn't let him. 

Once lunch finally rolled around Huey was seriously rethinking this whole thing, it wouldn't be too hard to help Claire, even if he hadn't had any experience like her family problems. That didn't mean he couldn't come up with something but he was just so tired, it probably wouldn't be good advice anyway. And as scary as she was it was upsetting him a little that he couldn't help her. No, not couldn't, wouldn't. She was mean he didn't help mean people. 

He tapped his fingers on the table the three of them were currently sat at and normally his siblings would've told him to stop but they knew how nervous he was. So Dewey just grabbed his hand instead. "It'll be fine." He tried to assure him. "We're just getting her to stop messing with you. Hopefully she'll listen to reason." Though from the looks on his siblings' faces he could tell they didn't really believe that. He didn't either to be honest but it was a nice sentiment. 

"Hopefully." He absentmindedly responded. "Back up plan?" He questioned hoping they would tell him. 

"Still not telling you." Louie responded as they looked around the cafeteria. "Heads up, she's coming this way." Huey ducked his head just wanting this to be over so could only tell by the sound of her voice when she approached the table. 

"Huey." She said sickening sweet. "Have you figured my problem out yet? Or are you still lying?" Her voice turned vicious at the end and Dewey had had enough. Even if she had been there for about two seconds she was still annoying and no one talked to his brother like that. 

"He wasn't lying but he's not helping you anymore." 

Claire turned her attention to him. "Excuse me?" 

"You heard me he's not helping you anymore. He shouldn't have done it in the first place but that's not his fault, it's yours. And it stops now." 

"Not till he's done helping me!" 

"No," Dewey stood up. "Now. Find someone else to do the things you don't want to." She was about to argue again when Louie lazily spoke up from where they were sitting. It was clear she needed some motivation and who better to persuade her than someone who knew how to play people. 

"You should really stop this before people find out what your _real_ family problems are." They said knowingly and she looked at them taken back. 

"How do you know about that?!" She stuttered which made them smirk, they had her right where they wanted her. 

"I have my ways. So are you done or will I have to tell everyone here?" 

"Louie." Huey said warningly but they ignored him, this had gone on for too long. 

"Well?" 

She gaped at them for a few seconds before answering "Fine. I'll just get someone better to help me, someone who will actually do it and not hide behind his siblings." Before they could respond to that she walked away. 

"Good riddance." Dewey said as he sat back down. He and Louie then continued to eat like nothing happened but Huey just couldn't do it. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. They had handled it just like they said they would; he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders and felt like sobbing from relief. Give him a break, it had been a long couple of days and he was tired. He also felt like he could fall asleep right there but that wasn't the brightest idea.

He would have to talk later to Louie about going too far, however right now he didn't really care and was just glad this was over. 

* * *

When school was over instead of leaving like everyone else the triplets stayed behind. Dewey and Louie because they had detention and Huey because he felt bad for them having detention, it was due to him after all, and wanted to wait for them. They should have known that thing at lunch wouldn't be the end of it as the first chance she got Clarie complained to a teacher saying his siblings were harassing her. Which was true but she deserved it, she started this whole thing. But the teacher didn't see it like that and gave them detention. 

Oddly enough they didn't complain about it once but they did demand that she get detention too since she had done as much harassing as they did. Only she did it worse because she did it just to do it, his siblings did it to protect him. 

He was glad they did, he wasn't glad they got in trouble for it. 

Once detention ended he eagerly stood up on the school's front steps as he waited for them to walk out. When he saw them come out causally talking he raced over to them which paused their conversation. 

"How was it?"  

"Boring." Dewey groaned. "We had to sit there and do nothing for an hour but Claire was in there too and she was freaking out about getting her first detention so it wasn't a total loss." 

"Plus I'm pretty sure she's scared of me now, that's something." Louie said as they all started the walk to the manor. Their Uncles' were still at work and the triplets were in no hurry to see them and get reprimanded at. So, they chose to walk. 

"Dude, you threatened to reveal her family problems to the whole cafeteria, I'd be scared of you too. Well, I would be if I wasn't your brother." Dewey added on because as scary as Louie could be they would never use it against family. 

They shrugged, "That's fair." 

"You shouldn't have gone that far." Huey cut in. 

"Huey, she scared you I absolutely should have gone that far. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat, nobody messes with my family." Their brothers smiled at them and they gave one back. 

"Well you guys definitely shouldn't have gotten detention for it, she was the one who did all of this not you." Huey insisted. 

"Yeah? Let's hope our Uncles see it like that." 

Their Uncles did in fact see it like that and the only lecture that was given was given to Huey about not telling them things. Which he took with no complaint, he did deserve it after all. After they finished Donald bent down and gave him a hug like he always did at the end of a lecture to remind them it was just cause he cared about them. Not that they needed to be reminded of that. It was just how they did things. 

"Why don't you go take a nap?" Donald suggested. "You look exhausted." And Huey agreed, he was exhausted. This whole thing had kept him up more than he cared to admit especially after she got all scary. He barely made it to his room before he collapsed and the next time he opened his eyes he was in Louie's bed. He felt his siblings' quiet chatter from around him and sighed contently before falling back asleep. 

When he woke up for real he noticed that it was starting to get dark outside and hoped he hadn't slept through dinner. His sleep schedule was messed up, he didn't need his eating one to be too. But luckily for him one or both of his siblings had left him a plate on the nightstand while they were off doing something else probably so they wouldn't disturb him. He sat up and started eating as the door slowly creaked open and a head poked its way in. He smiled at Dewey to let him know he was awake and that it was okay for him to come in. 

"Feeling better?" 

"Well, I'm not as tired now so that's good. But I think I'll be even better once I get my sleep schedule back on track." Huey stated hopefully because he really just wanted to move past this. 

"Yeah..." Dewey replied quietly. 

Huey frowned at him, "What's wrong?" 

"You're gonna keep doing this aren't you?" Dewey sadly asked knowingly and Huey opened his mouth to refute that but found he couldn't. He probably would do this again it was just who he was. 

"I'll be more careful." He promised, Dewey didn't buy it. 

"You'll try, but ultimately someone will ask you nicely for something, you'll say yes and then we'll be in this situation again!" 

"So I'm just not supposed to help people!" He shot back. 

"You're supposed to put yourself first!" Huey looked at him taken back. "That's what you've been working on, so why are you still not doing it?" 

"I am. I've been looking after myself this was just a small set back. I'm always gonna be trusting of people that's just who am I. But I will be more careful and I'll start telling you guys these things again. Even if I don't like when you get mad at me I know it's just cause you care." 

"There's no easy fix for this is there?" Dewey said hopelessly. He didn't know what to do with no easy fix, things were supposed to do be easy, they were ten. 

"Is there one for anything?" Huey pointed out. 

"Guess not." And that was the end of that. Huey didn't know what else to say because there was no easy fix, for any of this. That was why he was so glad he had his siblings, he would always be selfless and naive, people would always try to take advantage of that, but they would always be there to stop them. 


	45. Not Knowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey deals with not knowing something.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Knowing things is what Huey prided himself on, it was what he was well, known for. He loved learning and researching so obviously he was the one who knew everything and everyone knew it. That's why his siblings always came to him when they needed to know something, like now. Dewey needed to know something for a science project they had to do and he was filing him in. It was going fine until he asked him a question he didn't know the answer to, 

"How old is the solar system?" Huey opened his mouth but found he didn't know, how could he not know?! It was an easy question that he should know the answer to but he didn't and he started freaking out about it. Dewey stared at him worriedly and put a hand on him to try and calm him down. 

"I don't know." He whispered refusing to look at him. 

Dewey nodded. "Okay, I'll just look it up. No big deal." He said soothingly as he pulled out his phone. He didn't want Huey to make a bigger deal out of this than he already had but knew he would anyway. 

"How could I not know that?" Huey asked himself incredulously. 

"You can't know everything." Louie said from their spot on the couch. And they had a point but at this point he wasn't listening to reason. Or anything but his own thoughts really. He just couldn't believe he didn't know this, it wasn't like him not to know something. But he did and he didn't know why, he was pretty sure they just recently learned this and he loved space he should for all intents and purposes know this. So why didn't he? 

"Uh oh, Huey's broken." Dewey whispered to Louie who nodded as they stared at Huey pacing around the room muttering to himself. It was freaky. And both of them always hated when he got like this. But right now there was nothing they could do about it they had to let him somewhat sort this out on his own. Then he would talk to them about it. 

Eventually Huey shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to see his siblings worriedly watching him. They quickly looked at other things when they saw him and he sighed. He wanted to tell them he was fine but he didn't feel fine and he couldn't lie to them. This whole thing was bugging him way too much so what if he didn't know one thing? It wasn't that big a deal except to him it was. For some unknown reason. 

He joined them on the couch and tried to refocus on his homework but found he couldn't. So he just leaned back in the couch instead, he would do it later. "So why do you think this bugs you so much?" Dewey asked him. "Cause I know why but I wanna know what you think." 

"I'm the one who supposed to know everything, I hate not knowing something it drives me mad... Who am I if I don't know everything?" He quietly questioned. 

"You're Huey." Louie said matter-of-factly. "You're our brother, who else do you need to be?" They were right, those were the most important things and the things that would never stop, why did anything else matter? 

But it did still matter to him and it probably would until he knew the answer. "Did you find out how old the solar system is?" He asked Dewey who looked up from his project to answer him. 

"Oh yeah, it's 4.5 billion years old so almost as old as Uncle Scrooge." He said with a smirk and Louie burst out laughing. Huey just shook his head at his siblings and looked back at his homework, something was still keeping him from doing it. But what? Why was this still bugging him? He got the answer so things should be fine now. But they're not and it was freaking him out even more. Why wasn't this fine? Why wasn't he fine? 

"Hello? Earth to Huey!" He jumped out of his thoughts in surprise and looked at his siblings, "You're were spacing out there bro what's up?" Dewey said. 

"I know the answer I should be fine now but I'm not and I can't figure out why. Which is just freaking me out even more and the thought of freaking out even more is freaking me out even more and so on and so on and-"

"HUEY!" They both yelled at him and he flinched but knew it had to be done. He would of spiraled forever otherwise. 

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "I ramble when I'm panicked." 

"We know." They both said then glared at each other, they hated when they did that. "Why are you getting so panicked about this? So you didn't know this there's a lot you don't know." Dewey said carelessly and Louie hit their head.

_There's a lot you don't know. There's a lot you **don't know**. _

There was a lot he didn't know and there was no way to know it all, it was literally impossible for him to know everything. No matter how much he learned or how much research he did there would still be more for him to know. And that thought should excite him, infinite knowledge meant infinite learning, but it just scared him. He would never know everything. 

"Now he's broken." Louie remarked. But he didn't hear them, he was too busy spiraling even more. 

* * *

The rest of the day was spent trying to get Huey out of his freaked out state but neither of them could do it, he was in way too deep. So when their Uncle got home from work they went to him. They explained everything that happened and how no matter what they did they couldn't break Huey out of it. They told him they didn't know what else to do and that they were really worried, it wasn't like Huey to get _this_ hung up over something. 

"I'll talk to him." And so the three of them made their way into the den where Huey still was. He hadn't moved in hours. It was weird and not Huey weird, Huey weird they were used to, they weren't used to this. 

"Huey, what's going on?" Donald questioned as he sat on the couch next to him. 

"Dewey asked me something earlier that I didn't know the answer to and it's been freaking me out ever since. And then he said there's a lot I don't know and he's right, no matter how much I try I can't know everything. And I hate not knowing something." 

"No, you're scared of not knowing something." Donald gently corrected. And then Huey remembered that that was the truth, he had always been terrified of the unknown. It was something he had been working on since he and Dewey had that adventure with Fethry but he was obviously having minor setbacks. 

"Yeah, I guess I am. But if I don't know something then it could be anything! Is anything even real?!" He asked hysterically. 

"Whoa!" His siblings said. 

Donald held his hands up and moved them,  "Ok ok, let's just calm down. Everything is real and it's okay that you can't know everything, do you know how much information is in the universe? If you knew it all you'd been even more stressed out than you already are. And yes everything could be anything but that's what's good about it, there are endless possibilities for everything and sure that can seem scary but it can also be very exciting. You can always learn something, that's amazing Huey!" 

Huey gave a small smile, "That is pretty cool. And I guess on some level I always knew I couldn't know everything, that's kind of obvious but I think what really bugged me is that I should've known it. It was something we had just learned and something I thought was cool but I didn't know it." 

Dewey looked at him confused, "So you did know it but you forgot it?" 

"Yeah it's not like you to forget something." Louie noted. 

"I know! So why did I?" He asked both of them hoping they could answer, cause he didn't have one. They didn't have one either. But someone else did, 

"You're going through a lot right now Huey you can't expect yourself to remember every little thing, that's not fair to you. Everyone forgets things sometimes, try not to beat yourself up over it okay?" 

"Okay, I'll try. Sorry for worrying you guys." 

"Nothing to be sorry for." Donald assured him. Huey smiled at all of them, it seemed like this was resolved, for now at least. Uncle Donald was right, he just had the wrong perspective about this which usually wasn't like him. He liked to be positive about things but sometimes he thought of something bad before that could happen and freaked out, like earlier. He would have to work on that. He liked being positive, it made dealing with things like this so much easier and he didn't want that to change. 

"I'm sorry for saying that earlier." Dewey suddenly spoke up. "I was trying to make things better but I didn't think before I said it and I made things worse, so I'm sorry." He said guiltily. But what Dewey didn't know was that Huey already forgave him. He wasn't mad at him in the first place actually. There wasn't really time for him to be during all of that but he still wasn't now. He knew Dewey too well to think he had ill-intent by it.  

"It's okay I know you were just trying to help." Dewey grinned at him and he smiled back. After that he turned to his lap and realized he still had a bunch of homework to do and sighed. But then figured he should get started on that as he heard his Uncle ask his siblings if they finished their homework. 

"Yeah, hey I finished before Huey did that's a first." Dewey noted. "Oh! And I'm also almost done with my science project, once I looked up the answer to that question things really started to get going." 

"I still have to start that. Eh." Louie shrugged but then Donald started to object and Huey drowned the rest of that conversation out. He wasn't able to help Dewey, that felt weird. And bad weird, one perk to being the person who knew everything was helping his siblings. If he didn't know everything how could he help them? He quietly sighed and looked at his homework again, would this ever get done?! 

* * *

Later on as he was getting ready for bed he thought about going to see Webby, maybe she would know something that would help him. She was just into learning and researching as he was and she often used to it help them like he did. But she could also be a lot smarter than him sometimes and had to know by now that she couldn't know everything. How did she deal with not always being able to help them? 

He knocked on her door determined to get an answer. She opened it and grinned at him, "Hey Huey! I heard about what happened earlier... do you wanna talk about?" She hesitantly asked and he nodded in relief at not having to ask her. She let him in and he looked around for a few seconds as a way to stall before asking her, 

"You know it's impossible to know everything, right?" She nodded. "So that means you can't always help us, how do you deal with that?" 

"I try to help the best I can." She answered honestly and he absentmindedly nodded. 

"Right but what about when you can't? Earlier I wasn't able to help Dewey and that felt super weird. And that was the first time there'll be more as we grow up and I don't know how to handle that. I'm the oldest brother, I help you guys that's what I do, how can I do that if I don't know everything?" He asked hoping she would hear the unsaid question, 'who am I if I can't help you guys?'. She did. 

"You help us with what you do know. The rest doesn't matter. Who cares if there's stuff you don't know? There's still a lot you do." 

He smiled at her, "Thanks Webby." 

After that he went to his room, it was late and he needed to go to bed, they had school tomorrow. He still felt a little weird but he took Webby's and his other siblings' earlier words into account. He was still Huey, he would always be Huey. The amount of things he knew wouldn't change that. Nothing would ever change that. However he still felt bad that he couldn't always help him but that was just part of who he was. 

The first thing he noticed when he got in his room was that his siblings were whispering about something and the fact that they stopped when they noticed him meant it was about him. And he felt like he deserved to know what it was so as he changed he asked them, "What were you talking about?" 

"Why'd you go see Webby?" Louie countered. And he really wasn't surprised at this point that they knew that they knew how to read people too well, especially their brothers. That didn't mean he always had to like it. 

"She likes learning and researching as much as I do, I want to see how she dealt with not being able to know everything." He explained.

"And?" Dewey prompted. 

Huey sighed, "I wanted to see how she dealt with not being able to always help us." They both looked at him questioningly. "She said I could help with stuff I do know and that I know a lot of it and the rest doesn't matter. And I want to believe her, I do! I just, can't." 

"You can help us in other ways." Louie pointed out. "You help us just by being yourself literally all of the time. We don't care about you because of how much you know or how much you help us, we care about you cause you're you. We care about you because we love you and that will never change." Huey widely grinned and hugged them tightly. "Ugh, oh, Huey!" They exclaimed annoyed but he ignored them, somehow that was just what he needed to hear. 

"See this is why I don't say stuff like this a lot." They said as he let go of them and he rolled his eyes halfheartedly. 

"You don't mean that." Dewey said because Louie wasn't the only one that knew their siblings well. 

Louie snorted, "You'll never know." Their brothers just shook their heads fondly and headed to bed but Huey paused on his way up. 

"Thanks for the help today guys, don't know what I'd do without you." 

"Same." "Me either." After they all got in their own beds and said goodnight Huey started thinking. He couldn't know everything, that was okay. He couldn't always help people with knowledge, that was okay too. There were other ways to help his siblings and he knew how to do them exceptionally well, being himself was one thing he was confident in. They would always love and care about him, that was beyond words. 


	46. First Crush Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets a crush on Huey.  
> Set sometime during season two.

The school day started out normal but that changed when the triplets got to English class. Dewey and Louie were tuning their teacher out as usual and Huey was avidly listening, as usual. Then the teacher announced a group project and he froze up, he hated group projects. He only worked well with two people and he was almost never paired with them. The teachers always seemed eager to keep them apart for some reason like it was weird for them to be as close as they are. But it wasn't. And he knew that. Hopefully this time would be different but he wasn't counting on it.  

"Pick partners for your project, it's a four-person project." Or maybe he was right to be hopeful. 

"It's times like these I wish Webby went to a normal school." Dewey now paying attention said. And he had to agree, he didn't want to work with anyone but them. But they had to, the only question was who would want to work with them? They weren't constantly bullied here but they weren't exactly popular either. And they didn't have anything friends, but he didn't want to go against the teacher's instructions and only have it a three-person project with them. So, they had to found someone. 

But it seemed like he was the only one with that idea because his siblings were goofing off. He fondly shook his head at them and looked around the room to see if anyone needed a group. Once he found someone he got a grin on his face and went to ask if they wanted to be in their group. They said yes despite his siblings' groans and the two of them joined them back at his seat. 

"Hi, I'm Robyn." She said after they got there, he gave a smile and introduced himself as well but his siblings basically ignored her so he introduced them too. 

"Hey you're a robin and your name's Robyn, that's cool." He noted, because he really did think that was cool, and she looked at him impressed. 

"You know your birds." She said with a smirk. 

"It comes with being a Junior Woodchuck. So, should we get started?" His siblings' groaned again but Robyn nodded at him and they got to work. As class went on he found out that they had quite a lot in common, they both loved learning and reading, they both liked mysteries and they both practically lived by the Junior Woodchuck guide. He ended up having more fun than he thought he would and by the end of class he was confident that he had a new friend. 

"Yeah, she has a crush on you." Louie said as soon as they sat down for lunch. And he had to look at them to make sure he heard them right, there was no way Robyn had a crush on him. But he didn't really have a lot of experiences with crushes so they could be right. He hoped she didn't though, that would make things very complicated. 

"Boys and girls can be friends without there being feelings." He protested, because it was 2019 and people had to know that. 

"They can." Dewey agreed. "This is not one of those times." Huey let out a groan and plopped his head against the table, with both of them saying it it had to be true. Why did this have to happen to him? Why couldn't he have been a normal boy with normal boy problems? And why did lunch tables have to be so cold? 

He lifted his head up and tried to rub some warmth into it as he asked his siblings what to do. No one had ever had a crush on him before, how did he tell her he quite literally couldn't have a crush on her? How did he explain something like that? 

That was what he thought about for the rest of the day, and the rest of the night, up until the next time he saw her basically. He just couldn't figure out how to let her down without her feelings getting hurt. And that sucked, because he really did like her, platonically, and he wanted to be her friend. But if she was expecting more than that, then there was no way her feelings wouldn't be hurt. 

Great. 

* * *

Huey hesitated in the doorway to English class and his siblings pushed passed him. "Skipping?" Louie asked which made him eep and run in as the other two fist-bumped, worked every time. Robyn smiled at Huey as he took his seat and he gave her a sheepish grin, for once he just wanted this class to be over. But before that happened they would work on their project and he would have to face her. She would know something was up as he sucked at lying and he would have to tell her the truth and upset her, there was no way around it. Any of it. 

Once the teacher called for them to get with their group partners Robyn made her way over to them and he started to panic. He wasn't ready for this, he wasn't sure he'd ever be ready. But that wouldn't stop time and he knew that, nothing would. He had to deal with this and had to hope for the best case scenario, that always worked before. However he'd have to find some time to pull her aside, things like this were best dealt with privately. That time wouldn't come until class was over. 

When the bell rang he sent his siblings to the lunch room knowing they wanted to be there for backup. This was something he had to do on his own though and they would make things more difficult much as he hated to admit it. If something went even the slightest bit wrong they would immediately jump to his defense. And while that was something he enjoyed on most occasions it would just complicate this even more. No, he definitely had to do this on his own. 

After they left he quickly got Robyn's attention and caught up to her while trying to think of what to say. He ended up with nothing. Looked like he was winging it, that never worked well for him it was more his siblings' speed. It was too late to go ask them for help though. He should've thought this through more. 

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" He hesitantly started and she, looking hopeful, immediately agreed. Oh boy. 

He decided to go with a direct approach, "Do you have a crush on me?" 

"Where'd you get that idea?" She asked back instead of answering which meant, yes, she did have a crush on him. 

"That's not important but you do need to know something." He took a breath in, "I'm aromantic, that means I don't experience romantic attraction. So any romantic feelings you have for me can't be reciprocated, I'm sorry." 

She looked at him confused, "Well how do you know you just haven't found the right person?" 

"It doesn't work like that. I have no interest in romance it weirds me out. I'd rather spend my time on other things like spending time with my family or doing solving mysteries. It never crosses my mind, except in times like this, and no one person is gonna change that." 

"So there's no chance of anything happening between us? Nothing at all?" 

"Nothing more than friendship." He admitted and hoped that would be enough, it was for him, obviously, but would it be for her? 

"I don't want to be just friends with you Huey." She said softly. "We really connected I just thought... I'm sorry." 

"Me too." He responded just as silently because this wasn't how he wanted this to go at all. But there wasn't anything he could do about it, if that was how she felt that was how she felt. She left after that and he felt like crying. For the first time since he found out he hated that he was aromantic, if he wasn't this would've never happened. She'd still want to hang out with him. He would have an actual friend and not someone who hung out with him cause they were related or cause they were one of the first people around their age that they met. This sucked. 

His siblings came and found him after a while, he had expected no less when he didn't show up in the lunch room. He was glad they were there they could make him feel better. He filled them in on what happened. When he finished they didn't say anything, until he said that he didn't like being aromantic. They had a lot to say about that. 

"Because things would be easier?" Louie asked and he nodded. "Would you be happy?" He didn't say anything, he knew where this was going. 

"Would you rather have things be easier or would you rather be happy?" 

He gave them a nod. "I see where this is going Lou, I'd rather be happy. Who cares if life's easier if I'm not happy, right?" 

"Right." His siblings agreed. "You are who you are Hue there's nothing wrong with it and if she can't see past that that's on her, but she's missing out." Dewey added on. 

"Yeah, you're great." Huey smiled at both of them and quickly forgot about his earlier remark of them hanging out with him just cause they were related. He had to give them more credit than that. He had to give himself more credit than that. Why wouldn't they want to hang out with him, he was great. Sometimes it felt like they were the only ones who knew that. But he was okay with that, he would always be okay with it being the three of them. Except it wasn't because they had a whole clan of people behind them, who would always accept them no matter what and that was great. 

That was family. 


	47. Secrets Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey gets hurt during an adventure but doesn't tell anyone.  
> Set sometime during season two.

When Huey woke up this morning he wasn't expecting to go on an adventure but he welcomed it nonetheless. The only one who didn't seem to was Louie however that was nothing new. Luckily he and Dewey were able to convince them to come, it was never fun unless it was three of them. 

Once they got to their destination of an unknown jungle Huey immediately set to explore around, he didn't know much about it but he could learn. He heard someone walking behind him and turned to see Louie standing there boredly scrolling through their phone. He assumed Dewey and Webby already paired up and went off their on own, like always, so he wasn't surprised to see them there. He was surprised to see their phone worked though, they were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. 

"How is your phone still working?"

They shrugged, "Don't know. Better than being bored though." He had to give them that, boredom could suck sometimes. And he knew how bored they could get on these things. 

"Hey thanks for coming with us, I know how much you don't like these adventures." 

Louie looked up at him, "Yeah well you guys talked me into it." They didn't say anything else after that but they didn't have to. He knew what they really meant. He continued to look around. Since much wasn't known about this place he wanted to be the first to learn something about it. Which is why he figured Scrooge brought them here in particular. Everyone knew how down he still was about not being able to know everything and this was his way of helping. He was trying to come to terms with it but that didn't happen overnight. 

As he looked around he started cataloging things in his Junior Woodchuck guidebook and got so wrapped up in it that he didn't notice the tree root in front of him until it was too late. He tripped over it but then quickly got back up and attempted to brush it off as Louie laughed behind him. 

"You okay?" They asked between laughs. He nodded and ignored the light pain in his side as he continued on. It would be gone by tomorrow, he was sure of it. 

It wasn't. 

The next day when Huey woke up the first thing he felt was the light pain he had yesterday had practically doubled and that he could barely move. But he knew he had to, the others would get suspicious if he stayed in bed all day and for some reason he didn't want to tell them he was hurt. Thankfully he was adept at first-aid and knew what to do to help it heal. Despite how much pain he was in he didn't think it was that major of an injury, all he did was trip over a plant root it couldn't be that bad. 

As he made his way to the bathroom he noted that one of the perks of getting up the earliest was being able to do stuff like this without getting noticed. Or so he thought, he forgot that he wasn't the only one that liked to get up early. 

"Morning lad." Scrooge said when he saw him. "How'd ye sleep?" 

"Oh pretty good." He lied. The truth was that it was kind of hard to get and to stay asleep last night. The pain kept him up and he only ended up getting three, four hours tops. He tried to continue on his way but it seemed life hated him at that moment because Scrooge kept trying to make conversation with him. Once he was finally able to get away he made a beeline for the bathroom and looked for some aspirin in the medicine cabinet. After he found it he slowly made his way to the kitchen to search for ice and a bag. 

But unfortunately for him he ran into someone else in the there. This day was really out to get him. He attempted to get around Mrs. Beakley but she saw him and asked what he was doing. To which he replied that he had a headache and wanted some ice to help. He didn't know why he went with that and not the truth but figured the truth was a lot worse. Thankfully she accepted that and let him carry on. 

And he knew it would be easy to dissuade her and Scrooge but the real problem lied with his siblings. He could not for the life of him lie to them, they knew him too well. And they somehow always knew when something was wrong with him. It was a triplet thing. But it made this very complicated. 

It wasn't like he could avoid them, they would instantly know something was up. He supposed he could just tell them but for some reason he really didn't want to. It was probably something to do with him not wanting them to worry about him. But he knew by now that they would always worry about him. And he didn't know how he felt about that but right now he didn't really like it. He could take care of this on his own, he didn't want them to worry about him. 

He went into the den to get some rest and ice his side before breakfast, both things he knew would help and hoped his siblings could wake themselves up today. He didn't feel like trekking up and down stairs today. But when he got to the den he saw they were already there watching some cartoon and teasing each other which made him smile. That smile quickly went away when he realized he had to deal with them a lot sooner than expected. 

"Morning." He said as he sat next to them. "Did I wake you? I tried to be quiet." They both brushed him off and Dewey told him he woke up cause he was hungry and that he woke Louie up. Huey nodded at that and tried to stealthily ice his side, he hoped the cartoon would distract them but that hope was quickly crushed when Dewey noticed him. 

"What are you doing?" 

He tried to hide the ice, "Nothing." 

Louie raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"Nothing." He said again. His siblings shared a look and before he knew what was happening the ice was snatched from him and they were looking at him concerned. 

"Why do you need this?" 

"Headache." He quickly replied and hoped they would buy it like Mrs. Beakley did. 

"You were putting it on your side?" Dewey said confused and Huey sighed, he had to come clean. 

* * *

"Breakfast!" Or maybe not. He quickly went to the dining room before they could question him further but knew this wasn't over. He could worry about that when breakfast was over though. 

During breakfast his siblings kept giving him looks but he tried his best to ignore them, it wasn't easy though. And when they were all done they immediately cornered him and he didn't think he could get out of telling them for a second time. That didn't mean he couldn't try. He attempted to find something to distract them but they weren't having it. They wanted to know what was wrong with him and they wanted to know now.

"Huey what's going on?" 

He looked down and that this time he couldn't run away from this. "Yesterday when we went to that jungle I tripped and hurt my side." He admitted and they looked at him stunned. 

"You said you were fine!" Louie said upset. 

"I thought I would be. It didn't seem like a big deal, it was just a root. But this morning I woke up and could barely move so I probably have a bruised rib. I've already taken medicine and I'm icing for the next 48 hours, there's nothing else to do for it. I'm sorry for not telling you guys but I didn't want you to worry and I knew I could handle it myself." 

"That doesn't mean you have to. We're family Huey, we help each other. Even if we think we don't need it." Dewey said as he attempted to not lose his temper. He thought they had gotten past stuff like this but he guessed he was wrong. 

"You're right. I'm sorry." Huey said remorsefully, he was expecting a reaction like this but it didn't mean he didn't feel bad. It made him feel worse. He knew this would happen and he still did it. 

"Just stop keeping stuff from us. And go lay down, you need rest too." Huey quickly nodded, he could do that. Both of those things, he just really needed to work on the first one. And he would, he hated keeping things from them. He went to their room after that but by the time he got there he found it really hard to walk let alone climb. So he got in Louie's bed and hoped they wouldn't mind. 

Once he did that he placed the ice on his side and got comfortable with the idea of not doing anything today. It was probably for the best, the more he rested the quicker it would heal. But the only problem was that he had nothing to do and since he felt like he couldn't walk he couldn't get anything to occupy his mind. Thank god he always kept his Junior Woodchuck guidebook in his hat. 

A few minutes later his phone started to ring so he sighed and put his book down as he checked to see who it was. It was his Uncle Donald, and he instantly knew his siblings told him what happened. He prepared to get scolded as he picked up but knew he deserved it. 

"Hey Uncle Donald." He said awkwardly. 

"Huey, how bad is it? Do you need to go to the hospital?" 

"No, no! Nothing like that, it's just bruised." He hurriedly attempted to assure him. "I'm sorry for not telling anyone what happened, it didn't seem like a big deal. I don't even know how it happened to be honest, it was just a tree root. It wasn't even a big one! Sorry, that's not the point." 

Donald sighed, "Are you in bed right now?" 

"Yea, I'm also icing it and I took some medicine earlier. I really am sorry Uncle Donald." He said trying not to cry. He really made a mess of things. 

"Don't beat yourself up over this Huey, just tell someone when it happens again. It doesn't even have to be me, just someone. Okay?" 

"Okay." Donald then told him he had to get back to work and told him how to properly help his side heal even though he thoroughly knew what to do. It was nice. He hung up after telling him they'd talked about more when he got home and Huey was left to his own devices once again. At least until the door opened. 

Both of his siblings were standing there and he offered them a small smile. He knew they were mad at him, and he couldn't blame them, but he also knew they were worried. And worry overtook anger every time. 

"I'll be okay." He promised them. And he would be, it was just a bruised rib. "In a few days it'll be like this never happened. But I won't keep things from you anymore, I've learnt my lesson."  

"Have you? Cause it seems like we keep having to have this talk." That was fair. 

"Yes, I hate upsetting you guys. No more secrets." He wouldn't blame them if they didn't believe him but he really hoped they did. If they didn't it would be the first time that happened and it wasn't ever supposed to. He didn't know what he would do if it did. But he didn't have to find out today, they smiled as they joined him on the bed and he knew that things would be okay. 

Eventually. 


	48. Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's one only place Huey feels safe.  
> Set sometime during season two.

Huey got panicked, often. The world could be a very scary thing and he didn't always know how to deal with it. And he always got more panicked before he got calm but that was probably to be expected with him. Life always seemed to go that way for him. But there was one person who could always calm him down, two actually. His siblings. Just their presence could calm him, even in the worst of times. When everything seemed hopeless and bleak as long as they were there he knew he'd be okay. 

This was one of those times. Only they weren't there, he didn't know where they were. Which wasn't unusual, but he needed them right now and he didn't have the right state of mind to be able to find them. So he was stuck panicking with no way out of it. And that panicked him even more. He tried to remember his breathing technique but he could barely remember _how_ to breathe. He needed his siblings. And he needed them now. 

Before he knew what he was doing he grabbed his phone and sent out a frantic text hoping one of them would get it. And a few moments later he was joined by them. Unknown to him of course, he was pretty occupied right now. But he did feel something, calm, he felt calmer. And that was what was able to get him to breathe again and what kept him from going too far, just like always. 

Once he was calmer and was able to get a bearing of his surroundings he hugged them and quietly told them what was going on. They intently listened, and they may not have understood but they understood him and that was all that mattered to him. He didn't need assurances he just needed to be listened to and they did that, they always did when it mattered. And those were only some of the reasons he needed them when he got like this. He could never get out of it on his own and that was bad, but he was really rarely on his own, this was just unfortunate timing. 

But it made him not want to be alone for a while. And it made him not be left alone for a while. He knew his siblings felt bad for not being around when it started and he didn't know how to reassure them that it was okay, because it didn't feel okay. He didn't blame them but he wished they had been there from the start. This would've ended a lot sooner if they were. He didn't hold it against them though, he would never do something like that. 

"So, what now?" Dewey quietly asked and Huey shrugged, he didn't know. He could do what he usually did after one of those moments and just relax for the rest of the day. But for some reason he didn't feel like doing that today. Maybe he was still panicked a little. 

"I don't know, can we just stay here a while?" They both agreed and they all got comfortable. "Where were you guys?" He said, because it was something they had to talk about. 

"Playing darts with Webby. We should've noticed something was up when you weren't there." Dewey guilty replied. 

"How could you've known?" He understandingly inquired. Because really they had no way of knowing this would happen, none of them did. 

"We know you." 

"Then you should know I don't blame you for this." He answered Louie. They had to know that, both of them. As upset as he was and as okay as it wasn't, it wasn't their faults. It was just something that happened and they all had to deal with it. And they would because now they were all together, and there wasn't anything they couldn't do when they were together. His siblings were here now, things would be okay. 

He was safe. 

* * *

Adventures were often a fun thing but sometimes they could get dangerous. There were many things that could go wrong and they always seemed to happen to one of them eventually. Unfourtnely it looked like it was his turn but at least he wasn't alone, although he didn't know if that was really a good thing or not. Sure they helped keep him calm but they didn't need to be in danger too. 

His siblings tried to find a way out of the room they were trapped in while he tried not to panic. Normally he would've been helping them but this time had him more scared than usual for some reason. Probably something to do with how they had lost all contact with the others. There was a very real chance they could be stuck here for a while. And that wasn't good. 

"Hue you good?" He looked at his siblings to see both of them staring at him worriedly. "We kinda need your help finding a way out." Dewey added sheepishly and he knew he had to calm himself down. 

After he did that he also started looking around but found nothing just like they did. It looked like they were stuck here until the others could find them. But who knew how long that would take? He started silently freaking out again but stopped when he noticed he wasn't the only one who was scared and began helping Dewey keep Louie calm. And as he told them that things would be okay and that they would get out of here he started to believe it. He hated lying to his siblings, knowingly or not, so that had to be the truth. 

Once they had calmed down it became a waiting game and they all chatted to pass the time. They talked about nothing in particular, but it was one of the best conversations they ever had. And for the rest of the time they were in there he didn't get scared or panicked once. It was like a switch had flipped and he was completely calm. But he knew why, his siblings were there. And while he still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not he was glad they were. 

"All I'm say is he definitely deserved it." Dewey said finishing up his story. 

"Probably." Louie agreed and Huey smiled at both of them. Unknown to them as they were already talking about something else. And every now and then he offered his two sense but otherwise stayed quiet just trying to enjoy the moment as much as he could. Which turned out to be a lot. They really did make everything better. He hoped he did the same for them. 

They did so much for him and he felt like he could never repay them for it. But they weren't looking for payment, they just always wanted him to be happy and safe, and he wanted the same for them. But he didn't feel the need to tell them that, he was pretty sure it was an understood thing at this point, like a lot of things were with them. It was nice, having that kind of relationship with someone. Even better with two someones. 

"How much longer do you think we'll be stuck here?" Louie questioned after their and Dewey's conversation had come to a lull. 

"Hopefully not too long, I'm starting to lose feeling in my legs." Dewey said hitting one of his legs to demonstrate his point. He slowly got up after that, supporting himself with the floor. He then started pacing as he was starting to get antsy. As he did that Louie turned to their oldest brother. 

"Are you scared?" They asked worriedly. 

"Not anymore." He answered honestly. "Sometime while we were trying to calm you down I calmed down. I'm so good at reassuring I did it to myself." He joked with a smile and Louie smiled back. 

"Okay good. Just wanted to make sure." They said relieved. 

"I'm fine just more than ready to get out of here." They agreed and they both began watching Dewey pace. As they did that Huey started thinking about how he hadn't been scared in a while. And while he knew why that was it still managed to surprise him, he didn't understand how he could be completely calm in a situation like this. They had been stuck in here for some time, they had no contact with the others but he was barely worried. It made no sense. But sometimes he thought he made no sense. There was one thing that did make sense though, his siblings were there. 

He was safe. 

* * *

He didn't get nightmares often but when he did the only thing he wanted was his siblings. Lucky for him they always seemed to know when he was having one. Like now. As soon as he jolted up he saw them sitting on his bed and immediately calmed down. He moved so that they could move on either of him and once they all got settled he started talking about it. It was one of his normal nightmares, someone he cared about got hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. But it was the one he hated the most and the one that always upset him the most. 

He hated being the reason someone got hurt, it made him feel horrible. And every time he had that particular nightmare it reminded him how easily that could happen. He also hated the way he felt after nightmares, like everything was out to get him. He always had this sense of unease and even though he was calm earlier it was starting to creep back. But his siblings noticed, as they always did, and quickly set to calm him again. And he wanted to be calm, he really did but this time it wasn't that easy. They couldn't just say a few words and things would be okay. Because this time, it scared him more for some reason. 

And he told them as much. But he really didn't need to because they already had some idea and they knew if words couldn't fix it, something else would have to. So, they hugged him. And that seemed to do it, being completely surrounded made him calm for some reason. With most people it was the opposite but he wasn't most people and he knew and accepted that. It really came in handy in times like this. 

He still had a little uneasiness but he probably would for the rest of the night. That was just the way it was with nightmares. Thankfully he wasn't alone, he wouldn't be able to get through this alone. But he was starting to realize that even if he was by himself he wasn't really alone, they were always with him, cheesy as that was. He didn't really care. It was nice that they were here physically though. They were kind of like anchors. 

"I'm better." He promised them after a few moments. They looked at him unsurely and he couldn't blame them, he was always a mess after he had a nightmare but he really was. He wasn't completely better but he was better than he was before. And that's what had to matter right now. 

"Really guys I am." He broke their hug to prove his point, he never let go before he was ready to. "Somehow you always know just what to do." 

"Of course we do, we're your siblings." Dewey answered and he was right, the reason they knew each other so intimately was that they had known each other their whole lives. They had had a lot of time to get to know each other and that wasn't something you typically had with someone who wasn't your sibling. And it was something he was so grateful for. In moments like this it was needed and moments like this made him cherish it even more.  

"You're right. And you're the best siblings I could ask for." Any unease he had was now gone and he was ready to go back to sleep. He knew nothing would happen as long as they were around and that they would wake him if he had another nightmare. But he didn't think he would, something was telling him that the rest of the night would be peaceful. He didn't know what or maybe he did, it was the same thing that always told him things would be okay. His siblings were right next to him and they weren't going anywhere for the rest of the night.

He was safe.  


	49. Neglected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey's been feeling neglected recently.  
> Set sometime during season two.

It's not like he wanted it to happen or that he wanted to feel this way, but Huey had been feeling neglected lately. With everything going on with his siblings he often got pushed aside. And at first he was fine with it, they had problems and he didn't they needed the attention, but then he started having problems too and he also needed attention. But he didn't get it. Not in the way it was needed, they knew something was wrong but just assumed he'd figure it out on his own. And he could do it but he knew he shouldn't have to, they were all supposed to help each other, they were family and that's what family did. 

But the only ones who ever did were his siblings. They always put aside their problems when they saw he was struggling and he honestly didn't know where he'd be if it weren't for them. But, but it wasn't enough and he hated to think that way but he needed more than their support and attention, he needed it from the others as well. And no matter how much he reached out he wasn't getting it and it was starting to make him feel like it was him, like he did something wrong. And he knew that wasn't the truth but he was seriously starting to believe it was. 

There wasn't really anything he could do about it though, he couldn't make them pay attention to him. So he was stuck dealing things on his own and feeling like it was his fault he was going through this. He could turn to his siblings with it but even they were starting to ignore him, either dealing with their own issues or wanting to do something on their own. And that was a problem all on its own, it meant they were starting to drift apart and he always dreaded the day that would happen. He always worried it would happen, it was one of the few things he didn't tell them and he was really starting to regret that. 

He started to go off on his own a lot more, if they didn't want to be around him he didn't want to be around them either. Except that was a lie and he wanted nothing more than to be with his family. But if he wanted to protect himself that couldn't happen and lately he had started worrying about himself too. Which was a weird but welcome change. Even if it left him all alone. Even if that was the thing he feared more than anything. 

He had always relied on his family, more than he was really supposed to. He always needed them to make him feel better, to take care of things he couldn't, to make him feel loved. He didn't know how to do that for himself, he didn't know how to rely on himself. It was usually him relying on other people or them relying on him, he never had to rely on himself. But now, he did and he was in way over his head. 

And he couldn't ask anyone how to do it because they were all busy with other things and wouldn't have time to listen to him, that was how it had been lately. It was starting to feel like it would always be like that. He really hoped it wouldn't be though, he needed them, he needed to be needed by them and neither were happening right now. And he didn't know why. Maybe it really was him. 

He wouldn't know what to do if it was. Cry probably. But he felt like doing that a lot lately. 

He loved his family and he would hate to be the reason why they didn't want to spend time with him or listen to him. But that couldn't be it, they had done it before why would they if they didn't want to? The only explanation had to be that they had their own problems and didn't have time for his. But that would suck too because he always had time for theirs.

And they always had time for each others' so why was he the odd one out? Was it cause he was the oldest and should be able to handle these things on his own? If it was that was a pretty crumby reason, he was ten he shouldn't have to handle things on his own. He shouldn't ever have to do that. Family was supposed to help each other and they weren't doing that with him. And it was starting to make him mad. 

He was always there for them, no matter what, why couldn't they do that for him?! Why when he needed them they suddenly had no time?! It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair. He slumped down against the wall he was leaning on and sighed, why was it always him. Why was everything wrong with him? Why did they stop caring about him? He knew that wasn't true, they were family, family cared about each other. But his mind was saying two different things and he didn't know which side to listen to. 

It was very confusing, and he hated being confused. 

But ultimately the side that said he was getting neglected and that it was somehow his fault won out. And he hated that that was the side that did but he couldn't do anything about it, he was already too far gone. And this time there would be nothing to pull him back, his siblings made it clear they didn't care about his problems anymore. They had their own to worry about. 

He couldn't blame them, they had to focus on themselves, they had to put themselves first just like he was trying to do lately. But he could be mad at them, he could be worried that they were starting to split apart, and he could feel like he was losing two very important parts of him. And he didn't know what to do with himself about it. He didn't know how to deal with any of this. 

* * *

He was on his own again and this time was one of the times it was by choice. It hurt less that way, or he could pretend like it did. He had gotten good at pretending lately, no one even noticed a thing, he wasn't sure how to feel about that. But right now he didn't care to think about, or anything about that situation. It would just make him feel like crying or shouting. And he didn't want to do either. 

He didn't know what he wanted to do but being in this situation wasn't it. But he felt like there was nothing he could do about it and that really sucked, he wanted to be able to do something. More than anything. He didn't want to be on his own, ever, but now he was, almost all the time and that sucked too. He was stuck with nowhere to go. Until he wasn't. 

After he had been alone for some time he was joined by his siblings. They were wondering why he was alone a lot when he hated it so much. And the fact that they didn't know something was up with him worried him more than he cared to admit. They had always known when something was up with him, why had that suddenly changed? And why did it take them so long to come find him?

That wasn't normal, even when he wanted to be alone they always managed to immediately find him, it was both a blessing and a curse. But when he didn't want to be alone they took forever to find him, it wasn't fair. And he never thought he'd say that about them. He had to do something about this, about all of this, he was tired of feeling neglected. He had to say something. 

"Why did it take you so long to come find me? I get that you have problems but did they make you forget I'm dealing with stuff too?" He asked them hurt. 

They looked at each other guiltily. "We're sorry."

"You're sorry? I've been feeling neglected and all you can say is sorry?!" He exploded at them. 

Louie gawked at him, "You've been feeling neglected too?" 

Their brothers stared at them, "Wait what?" And so they explained, they had been feeling just as neglected as Huey had been and he hadn't noticed. He had been too preoccupied in choosing to keep himself away from everyone so they couldn't hurt them that he didn't think about how _he_  hurt them. And Dewey had felt neglected as well. Knowing all of that made him feel horrible, like they had to be feeling right now. 

He quickly hugged them and thanked them for their apology. It wasn't okay what they had been doing but maybe they could talk about it now. But something didn't sit right with him. "Wait, have we seriously been feeling neglected by each other?" 

"How does that happen?!" Louie was right in asking that, how did something like that happen? They had always been so close he was sure it wasn't a possibility. But now it had happened, and he didn't know what to do about it. And it looked like they didn't know either. But he knew where to start, 

"Why did it take you so long to come find me?" He repeated. "Why didn't you know something was up with me? Why haven't you noticed something was wrong with me? Why was I alone when that was the last thing I wanted? Why does it feel like we're drifting apart?" By the time he was finished the three of them were crying. There was nothing else they could do at that moment.

Once they calmed down he began speaking quietly, "I don't blame you for needing to focus on your own problems. I know you have to put yourselves first, I've been trying to do that lately. But I can't do this on my own, I don't know how to and I know I shouldn't have to. Nobody has been there for me lately. And I don't know why, is it me, did I do something?" He tried not to cry again as his siblings hugged him. 

"This is not your fault." Dewey made clear. "Why didn't you say something sooner? If we had known..." It got silent after that. They didn't know, that was the problem. Or the main part of the problem. But it ended there. 

"No one was paying attention to me. They assumed I'd solve everything on my own, and you guys started ignoring me. There was nothing I could do about it." 

"We thought you wanted space." Louie admitted quietly looking down at their legs. 

"That was the last thing I wanted, I wanted my family. I wanted my siblings." Both of them refused to look at him which made him sigh and shake his head. This was never gonna be fixed like that. The three of them needed to admit to their mistakes. Because he had been ignoring them too and that wasn't okay. But before he could say anything someone else did. 

"I'm sorry for ignoring you, I'm sorry for being part of the reason you feel like this. I don't know why we stopped being there for you Hue but it's nothing you did. Yes we have our own problems, but that doesn't excuse us from making you think that we don't care about you. We do, more than you think. And we haven't been the best at showing that lately but that's gonna change. We're not gonna leave you alone again." Louie nodded in agreement and Huey gave them both a sad smile. He knew it would and that they wouldn't but that wasn't the whole problem. However he had some of his own apologizing to do. 

"I'm sorry too. I got so wrapped up in making sure I didn't get hurt that I didn't think of if I was hurting anyone else. I'm sorry for neglecting you, I know how awful that feels. And I know how awful you feel, so I forgive you, you're my siblings of course I do." And he still hurt but the relief in their faces made it worth it. 

"We forgive you too." That made it even more worth it. 

"We're gonna make this right." Louie swore, and he knew they would he was just wary of how. But he knew there would be change, whenever they put their minds up to something they could do anything. He just didn't know if this would end well. 

* * *

A while later Huey was lounging around in the den when his family save for Dewey and Louie came in looking guilty. He knew why. They had talked to them, that was what they meant by making it right. He was grateful for it but he didn't do well with confrontation, even if it wasn't the angry kind.

Before he could even think of anything to say his Uncle Donald rushed forward and gave him the tightest hug he'd ever felt while saying how sorry he was. He wanted to forgive him immediately but he hadn't even done that with his siblings. He needed to be heard this time, really heard and that wouldn't happen if he instantly accepted the apology. 

"Why? I needed you guys and you weren't there, you made me feel like I did something, like it was my fault. I know that the others have problems, I know you guys have problems, but I still need you. We're supposed to help each other, family helps family. I've always been there for you guys why couldn't you do that for me?!" He started sobbing by the end and his Uncle gathered him in his arms and held onto him as he broke down. The others joined them on the couch and he started sobbing even more. 

This is what he needed, this is what he had been lacking but something was still missing. Two somethings, they weren't there why weren't they there?! As if reading his thoughts two heads peaked out from the doorway and gave him a soft smile. They didn't want to interrupt, this didn't involve them, they would see him when it was done. He understood, but he wanted them there now. And he had never been that selfish before but he figured this could be the exception.  

But as he wanted that to happen it wouldn't and he had to deal with the others on his own. He really didn't want to do that. A small part of him didn't want to deal with them at all. He knew he had to though, this had to get fixed and talking was the best way to do that. And he had done all his talking, it was their turn. 

"Huey, lad, ae am so sorry we made yew feel like this ae promise we never meant ta. Sometimes it's just so easy ta think that yew can handle things on yer own but that's not fair. Ye deserve better than that. And ye deserve ta have a family that treats ye better than that. From now on things are gonna be different around here, anytime yew need us we're there, no matter what. Ae'm sorry we made you felt like we weren't." 

Donald gently held onto Huey's arms making him look at him. "Uncle Scrooge is right kiddo, you're right. We're family and we help each other, always. We're gonna do a better job of doing that. We love you, Huey, you should've never had to feel the way you've been feeling." He hugged him close to him once again and continued talking, "This is not your fault, any of it. You didn't do anything to make us stop paying attention to you, we thought that we could say a few words and everything would be okay and that's on us. Not you. None of this is your fault." Huey didn't know what to say to that part some of it was. He could've said something sooner, he could've paid more attention to his siblings, but that was in the past he could only focus on now. But now kind of sucked too. 

He was getting the attention he finally deserved but it still felt like something was missing. Like something was wrong. And he didn't know what or how to figure it out. But maybe someone else did. However that was for another time right now he needed to focus on this. This was real. This was happening. And it was making him feel so many things, too many things. It scared him, but it was a good kind of scared if that made any sense. He didn't care, it mattered to him and that was what was important. 

After they talked a bit more and some important things were discussed they left him alone again, after making sure he was okay with that. He was, he needed some alone time following all that intense stuff. But he wasn't alone for long, not long after they left he was joined by his siblings once again. None of them said anything for a while and that was okay with him, he cherished the silence. 

But it couldn't stay that way forever. "How are you feeling? Any better?" 

"A little." His siblings looked at him. "Thanks for talking to them, I probably should've done it but I'm glad you have my back." The  _once again_ went unsaid. They both heard it anyway. 

"We told you we were gonna make this right." Louie replied quietly. 

"And while this doesn't fix everything it's still a nice start." Dewey said just as quiet. 

"It is." He lightly smiled at them. "We're gonna be okay." He promised. They nodded, and he knew they'd feel bad about this whole thing for a while but so would he. They had all messed in this situation and they all got hurt cause of it but they would be okay. It would just take some time, and that was okay too. Things like this couldn't be fixed overnight and to think they would be would be more harm than help. 

He still hurt, he would hurt for a while and that wasn't as okay, he shouldn't be hurting in the first place. But he was and the only thing he could do about it now was get better, and he knew he could, he wasn't alone anymore. He was being listened to again, they had acknowledged they messed up and were going to fix it. They knew he deserved better than how he had been getting treated and so did he. That was arguably the most important part. He knew he deserved better and he did something about it. Well, he had a little help but that's what he had been wanting for forever so it was fine. 

All he ever needed was some help. And for a while he had gotten it but then it stopped and _no one_ knew why but now he was getting it again. He just wished it never stopped. But he couldn't dwell on that now, it happened they were moving past it, so why did he still feel stuck? Nothing really felt different, he felt a little relief and he knew things would change but he still felt the same. Mad and upset and confused, talking was supposed to help maybe he had more to talk about? But what else could there be? They resolved everything with this issue. There was nothing else to talk about. Wasn't there? He couldn't think of anything else, but maybe it bothered him more than he cared to admit that they thought he could handle things on his own. At least they were two people he knew he couldn't. But were they enough?

He had always thought so in the past but things were changing. They had left him. He had left them too but the point still stands. For once they were, part of the problem when so many times in the past it had been the exact opposite. They had left him this time, just like everyone else had. He always ended up being cast aside in one way or another, hadn't he? But it had been fine, he had never really been alone. This time he was, this time was different. Maybe that's why he still hurt. 

But he had his siblings back at his side, he was sure of it. And they were gonna get past this and come out closer than before. He knew they would, they had to. Knowing that was what would make this situation better, along with him no longer getting neglected. That would help too. Things were gonna be different around here now, he could feel it. 

But he still felt like something was wrong. 


	50. The Spiralzation of Huey Duck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey spirals out over everything.  
> Set sometime during season two.

This had been building up for a long time, Huey knew that yet it still managed to surprise him. Probably because it felt like it had come out of nowhere, he was just in the library reading a book when all the thoughts came pouring in. Everything he was dealing with, everything he thought he dealt with, it was all at the front of his mind for no apparent reason. And he didn't know how to deal with it. But he did know one thing, he couldn't be alone. 

As soon as he got enough of a grip on himself he went to seek out, someone, anyone. There were people he preferred to see but he wouldn't be picky. He couldn't afford to be picky. Luckily for him the first people he saw were the people he preferred and they instantly knew something was wrong with him. And what it was. They had both gone through the same thing a while back. And even if they hadn't they would still know. 

He fell into their arms with a sob and clung to them as he burst into tears. He didn't know why he was crying exactly, probably a mixture of everything. He was just so done, he wanted all of this to be over. But it wouldn't be if he wasn't honest with himself. Something he already knew but had somehow managed to ignore, that was quickly coming back to bite him. And if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't over everything as much as he thought he was. He still felt, wrong, about everything and he didn't know how to fix it. But maybe his siblings did. 

"Everything feels, wrong." He admitted to them. "I know we talked it out and I've been trying to change but it doesn't, something's still not right. I'm still feeling wrong. Like nothing's changed at all. I still hate the unknown, I still think I'm too weird, I still feel neglected and stressed, I've just been so tired. I'm tired of dealing with all this I just want it to go away, but it won't, no matter what I do. I'm stuck." 

"How can we help?" Dewey asked quietly. 

"... I don't know. I don't even know how to help myself. Just please don't leave me alone again." He pleaded brokenly. 

"Never." Dewey promised. "I'm sorry you feel that way but things have changed, you've been more open about what you're feeling lately and sure there have been some setbacks but that's normal. Things don't get better overnight and it's not a straight path but if anyone can get through this it's you. You're so strong Huey, it's okay to be weak right now, you deserve it. You've helped us so much, it's our turn to help you. Let us help you." 

Huey nodded, he wanted their help he wanted it more than anything. But he still didn't know how they could, they had been through this though so they had to have some idea. "I need help but I don't know what will help. Nothing seems like it will."

"What about therapy?" Louie spoke up. "It's helped me a lot, talking to you guys is great, but it's nice to have some who knows what's going on with my brain and how I can fix it. And maybe if you knew more about yourself it would help with your fear of the unknown." Huey thought about it, therapy honestly did seem like a good idea. It helped Louie, as they just pointed out, so why wouldn't it help him? And he would like to know more about how his brain worked. Who better to tell him than a professional? 

"That's a good idea Lou, I'll have to talk to Uncle Donald about it. About a lot of things actually." Because while he had been pretty honest with his siblings lately his Uncle was another case. He didn't mean for it to happen, his siblings were just easier to talk to sometimes. But his Uncle still deserved to know. 

"Do you still feel neglected because of us?" Louie hesitantly asked after a few moments. 

"Kinda." He honestly answered. "I know you guys are trying to make me feel more included but it doesn't change the fact that you still... weren't there." They both nodded solemnly. "But you're here now and that's what matters. Thank you for being here." 

"We said we were never gonna leave you alone again." Dewey reminded him. "And hey if it's any consolation, you're not too weird for us." 

"Definitely not." Louie agreed and he smiled his first real smile in days. They always knew just what to say. So why did he still feel weird? Something was still wrong. He almost let out a groan in annoyance, what else could be wrong? Sure he still hurt but that was to be expected. Was that it? That had to be it. 

"I still hurt, I hate that I still hurt. I hate that things are still so wrong, with all of us. It's not fair. Why can't we just be okay?" 

"We will be, we have each other." Huey smiled again and tried to ignore the pang in his chest that reminded him of something he really didn't want to think about. He couldn't think about that right now, he had a whole bunch of other issues to deal with. He could deal with that later. And speaking of those other issues, he was starting to feel a little better about them but he still felt off. He wondered what made this time different than when he tried to deal with these issues before, what made him think he wouldn't break down like this again. He didn't know but he wanted to and he wanted this time to be different, he wanted to be done with dealing with all this. 

"I'm so tired guys." 

"We know." 

* * *

"I think I wanna go to therapy." He told his Uncle a little while later which made him look at him but not with surprise, he saw this coming. 

"Okay, we can look into that. Any particular reason why?" 

"Louie said it helped them, I need help. I'm so tired of feeling all this stuff and talking about it with you guys isn't enough." 

"It's okay that it's not enough." His Uncle gently told him always being able to read the triplets like a book. And Huey was practically oozing in guilt. "Sometimes we need more than comforting words, sometimes our problems are too big to be fixed like that, and that's okay. The only thing that's not okay is when we try to deal with those problems ourselves and you seem to have the exact opposite response of that." He pulled him closer to him. "Thank you for being so open about your problems, thank you for knowing you deserve to be listened to. I'm so glad one of you knows that even if I haven't handled it the best. But I'm here now, and whatever you need you've got. You will never be neglected again." 

Huey broke down for the second time that day but this time was relief. He already knew that but hearing it... it made it seem so much more real. It made it seem like this time would be different. Better. He started feeling a little less wrong and a little more hopeful. He could get past this, things would be different this time. He didn't know what was telling him that but he listened to it, if he wanted to get better he had to listen to it. But his mind lingered on one thing, 

"I haven't been completely honest with you, I'm still having trouble putting myself first and I've been so stressed lately, I guess that comes with dealing with everything. But if I can deal with my problems the stress will get less, I just don't know how to do that. That's why I think going to therapy is a good idea, I know it can help me figure out healthy ways to deal with everything." 

"That's good, that you know that. Therapy can be a great thing... Huey I know you've been having problems with that." Huey looked at him surprised. "Of course I know, you haven't exactly been subtle about it. And I know you well enough to know it's gonna be something you struggle with your whole life. Just like your temper, but like your temper it's something you can manage, it'll just take some time. You know as well as I do that things like this take time, there's nothing wrong with that." 

"What if I can't?" He whispered.

"You can. Huey you've been able to deal with everything else you can get through this too. And you're not gonna do it alone, we're right here." 

"Okay cause I don't think I could do this alone." A sudden thought occurred to him, "A while back I told you I didn't want to fall apart, that I couldn't handle it, but it happened anyway. I still don't think I can handle this but it was already too late at that point. This was always inevitable." 

"Sometimes we have to feel bad before we can feel better." He knew that. He knew that dealing with unpleasant emotions was part of the healing process but this still managed to shock him. He thought that he would be able to avoid this, that he knew how it happened to his siblings and he would be able to invade it. That didn't end up happening. He ended up falling apart just like they did. It was fitting in a way, what happened to one happened to the others but he really hoped this time would be different. He had really hoped this would never happen to any of them. But life was funny that way and he rarely got what he wanted and was instead stuck with situations like this. At least he wasn't alone. No his family would make sure that never happened again. 

Now if they could only keep him from falling apart. 

"If I saw this coming why couldn't I stop it?" He wanted to know, he needed to know. But would he like the answer? 

"Sometimes things just happen, no matter what we do. Somethings are just set in stone. Like you said, it was already too late, there was nothing you could do. All you can do now is move past this." He forgot how smart his Uncle was sometimes, rarely, but the point still stood. He would have to not to do that anymore. 

"Thanks Uncle Donald. I'm glad I decided to talk to you." 

"Me too Huey." 

Once that conversation was over Huey started thinking again. Something still felt wrong, off but he didn't get why. He knew what it was he didn't want to talk about it though, he was still trying to deal with everything else that had to wait a little longer. The talks he had helped, but like the last time they didn't do enough, something was missing, a solution. Part of the reason he liked knowing things was because it gave him answers and these talks, nice as they were, never really did that. 

But a solution had been made this time, he was gonna start going to therapy. That would help, that would give him the answers he had been so desperately craving, so why was he still hung up over all of this? Things were slowly going to get better, they had kind of already started so he should be able to think about something else. But he couldn't. His mind was still stuck on everything that was wrong with him. 

Wait that was it! That was the first time he admitted things were wrong with him, he had said things were wrong before but never with himself. He wasn't being fully honest before, he wasn't admitting the whole problem. Something was wrong with him and that's what it all boiled down to, all these issues, all these problems. They weren't because of him but they did make something wrong with him. And on some level he knew that but he had never actually admitted it. But if he wanted to get completely better, if he wanted to be able to get fully past this he had to admit it at least to himself. He had to be completely 100 percent honest with himself and that included the things he really didn't want to admit. 

And now that he had done that maybe these thoughts would be able to leave his head at least for the moment. He had something else he needed to deal with. 

* * *

He knew a certain talk was long overdue with his siblings, it was time for finally address what he had been putting off. He wouldn't be able to start to move past it until he did. But he was nervous, this was a difficult thing to talk about and he had no idea how it would go. He could really only hope for the best. 

He went around the manor looking for them and ended up finding them in the first place he looked. That wasn't really a surprise, he was always good at finding them. But it didn't give him much time to think of how to start the conversation. Which wasn't ideal but he didn't have much of a choice, he was already there and they had seen him. They were just waiting for him to say something. 

"We need to talk." He said seriously and they nodded as they waited for him to continue. "A few days back, when I opened up about feeling neglected and alone I didn't tell you everything. It really scared me, the fact that you guys left me, either to deal with your problems or do something on your own. It brought forward something I've always been terrified of, we're drifting apart. I'm worried I'm losing you and there's nothing I can do about it." 

"You could never lose us." Dewey tried to assure him. 

"Are you sure about that? You left me, you ignored me, I thought we were close enough that that would never happen but I was wrong. I've never been so sad to be so wrong." His siblings looked anywhere but him and he tried not to cry. This is exactly how he hoped this wouldn't go. "This is the part where you tell me we'll be okay." He whispered. They both finally looked at him and hugged him tightly as the three of them burst into tears. They had all hoped they would never have this conversation. But now they were and they had to find some way to deal with it. 

"We didn't mean to." 

"You still did and I don't understand why, how does something like that happen?" He asked them but they didn't know, how did something like that happen? Especially with them. The three of them had always been practically inseparable, that had changed a little when they moved in the manor but not enough that it caused a problem. Until now that is. And none of them knew why or what caused it. That scared Huey more than anything. If they didn't know then they couldn't make choices that would avoid it and it would happen again. It couldn't happen again, he wouldn't be able to handle it again, he couldn't handle it this time. 

They were his favorite people, his other halves, he couldn't lose them, ever. And he knew they felt the same way so how did this happen? It just didn't make any sense to him, but maybe he was focusing on the wrong part. Maybe instead of wondering why it happened they should focus on how to not do it again. Because he couldn't lose them, he refused to.  

He spoke up again making them both look at him, "I think we're, I'm, focusing on the wrong thing. It happened and it hurt but now we need to focus on making sure it doesn't happen again. That we never drift apart again. I know I wouldn't be able to handle it, I can't handle it this time. This was the catalyst for me falling apart, you guys are always at the center of everything happening to me." His siblings nodded in agreement and it was a somber moment. They shouldn't depend on each other that much but they do. And it was a bit of a problem but they didn't really care. 

"So how do we make sure we don't?" Huey opened his mouth to answer Louie but found he didn't have one. 

"We make time for each other." Dewey resolved. "We don't ignore each other and remember that our individual interests are important but so is our relationship. We remember that there's no one in the world we care more for than each other. And that there's nothing we wouldn't do for each other. We remember that it will always be us against the world and nothing will change that. But most importantly we remember that we love each other and that we would never want to hurt one another." 

His siblings smiled at him. "Very well put." Dewey smiled back. 

"Thank you I try."

They could do that Huey knew they could, they had already done it for ten years, this was just a little hiccup. Except that probably wasn't the right word to use. But he knew that they would get through whatever this was. As long as they had each other they could do anything and it was starting to look like that was back. The three of them against the world, the way it should be. 

He just had one more issue. "It's hard being the oldest brother sometimes." He admitted quietly and even know they probably already knew that he had to say it out loud. It felt good. 

"Well you're the best one we could ask for." Louie replied and Dewey nodded in agreement. Huey smiled at them. 

"And you're the best siblings I could ask for." He wasn't lying or anything with that statement, despite what happened a few days ago he still thought they were. How could he not? They were the best. They made a mistake, everybody does the important thing was that they all learn from and don't repeat it. And he was confident they wouldn't, things would be different from now on. They would go back to how they were before they moved in the manor but they would be stronger this time, this unfortunate experience would only help with that. 

He suddenly jumped out of his thoughts when he was hit on the arm and his siblings laughed at the surprised face he made. He just looked at them both fondly before laughing himself. 

Things were looking up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Huey's arc is officially done! I'm sad now... especially since this is the last arc. I always knew this day would come but I still wasn't expecting it. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and I hoped you've enjoyed this story! 
> 
> This isn't the end I still have a bunch of ideas but it will no longer be focused on one character, with the expectation of a few chapters. Let me know you guys' thoughts and if you have any one-shot ideas, I loved to hear them!
> 
> Love you all!


	51. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena realizes there's more to the triplets than she first thought.  
> Set sometime after Louie's arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first Lena chapter, yay!! It's been a long time coming and it's finally here! Let me know your thoughts!!
> 
> Also, Lena is not intentionally misgendering Louie when she refers to them as a boy, she doesn't know they're NB yet.

Lena's first impression of the triplets was that they were very... protective of each other. To be fair she did scare one of them but she had never seen anything like that before. It was, weird. But these people were bringing all sorts of weird into her life so she didn't dwell on it too much. Instead she chose to focus on Webby and her unwilling budding friendship with her, it wasn't something she wanted but darn it wasn't she really starting to like it. 

She had never had a friend before and now she had the best one in the world, only she came with three other people. Well she came with a lot of people but those were the most prominent. And Lena honestly didn't know what to think of them, it was obvious they cared for each other yet the fact that they could fight and come back together like nothing happened intrigued her. She didn't say anything of course but she was almost, jealous of how close they were. 

But she definitely wouldn't act like it, then they would all start asking questions and find out things she didn't want them to know. No, it was better for her to remain aloof and uncaring. But one thing she would quickly learn about their whole clan was that they were very perceptive and would see through her act. They wouldn't call her out on it though for some reason she really didn't understand. It was what she would've done. 

She was learning a lot about them, Webby most of all, but the triplets kept managing to surprise her. They were very complex for people she first thought were just, pretty much the same person. And the way they were so different but still hung out with each other and seemed to like hanging out with each other was something she had never seen before. And, she wanted that, she wanted to be able to so close with someone that she knew they would always be there. She wanted to have someone know her so well that she wouldn't be able to even attempt to lie to them. She wanted that, with Webby.   

If it was gonna be with someone it would be her. But she was also very afraid of getting close to her. She knew how this ended: her aunt got the dime and would hurt Scrooge and his family in some way. And that included Webby. And she was starting to not know how she felt about that. So she was obviously already pretty close to her if she felt like that, what was the harm in getting closer? 

But she didn't know how to be closer, she'd never been close with anyone before. She would need some help, unfortunately. Asking for help was never her strong suit. But she really wanted to try. She wanted to let someone in, she was so tired of being alone. And she was gonna do something about it, but who to ask for help? It would have to be someone who had experience with letting people in. Or difficulty with it. Someone who knew what she was going through. 

From what Webby had been telling her her best bet would be the one in green, Louie. She told her how he had been struggling with different things lately and that it was worrying her, so maybe he would know what she was going through. But he was also the least approachable out of the three of them. There was just something about him that made her think that he wasn't as likely to open up as his brothers were, but that's what she needed right now. Someone who had just as much trouble with letting people in as she did. 

The only question now was how to approach him cause she really didn't know how. Luckily that question was answered for her when she managed to catch him during one of the few times he was alone. It was a little offputting that he was alone but she was too determined to question it. That might've been a mistake. 

He raised an eyebrow when he saw her, "What do you want?" And that was a fair response, it wasn't like she ever tried to talk to him before. 

"Look, I need your help with something." She said spitting out the word help like it hurt her. "Webby's great, she's the best friend I could ever ask for but I'm having trouble being, close to her. I have trouble letting people in and I figured you had some experience with that." 

"Why?" 

She startled, she wasn't expecting that response. "Webby said you've been dealing with different things lately, she didn't say what they were just that you were struggling. You don't seem like the type to really be open about things but since your brothers know so much about those things I figured you told them-"

He held a hand up to interrupt her, "They know because they know me, I don't have to tell them those things. They just, know." He sighed, "It is really hard for me to be open with people, I don't like worrying them, but the thing about my brothers and my Uncle Donald is that they worry anyway. And I'm sure Webby's like that with you so you might as well just tell her things." 

"It's not that easy." She protested surprising herself, going into this she just wanted to get it over with and now she was prolonging it. Life sure was funny sometimes. 

"It's not... but the people who care about you make it easy. Webby cares about you, we all know it, we may not know why but she does. And the thing about having someone that cares about you is that they make you want to open up to them. They make you want to let them in just by being there." 

"You're just as uncomfortable as I am right now aren't you?" She noted with a knowing glint in her eyes. He had been fidgeting for the past few minutes and she wasn't doing much better if she was being honest. She wasn't the best with emotions. 

"Oh totally. But you're Webby's friend and she's practically my sister by now so..." That was the one thing that hadn't surprise her when it came to the triplets. Despite her initial assumption it seemed like they really cared about Webby, and she had a feeling they wouldn't let anyone hurt her. Which made things much more difficult because no matter how much she beat around the bushes she would hurt her by the end of all this. Even if she didn't want to. And even if Webby understood, would the boys? 

"So we have something in common then. That's, more than I was expecting." She stated honestly, she wasn't expecting to have anything in common with any of them. But from what she had noticed about Louie they probably had the most in common. She just hadn't seen it until now. 

"Yeah, if you really care about her you can't be all that bad." He said in a way that made her think he knew she was hiding something. Which she was but she didn't like the fact she could be so easily read. 

"That's to be determined." Was all she replied back. He shrugged and that was the end of that. 

* * *

Out of all of them the least Lena thought she had in common with was definitely the red one, Huey. He was basically a nerd and spent way to much time reading his guidebook. But he was also fiercely protective of the people he cared about. She couldn't understand any of that, she didn't know how to care for other people it had always just been her. And she wasn't really keen to learn but it ended up not being up to her. 

It once again revolved around Webby, as it always seemed to do with her lately, and her wanting to be a better friend to her. By now she accepted that she liked Webby a lot and that it would hurt when she inevitably had to betray her. But right now she was just going to enjoy right now and worry about that when it came. Not the best plan but she never had the best plans so it didn't matter. 

What did matter was being a better friend to Webby cause frankly she deserved one. But she didn't know how to be one and it was really bugging her. To the point where she had to go outside cause she couldn't bear to face her. And that was where Huey found her, she didn't know why he was out there and she didn't care, she just wanted to left alone. But, life really hated her. 

"Lena? What's wrong?" And of course he would notice something was up with her, that was part of caring about people wasn't it? 

"Nothing. Go away." 

"I've lived with Louie for ten years you'll have to do better than that." To prove his point he walked up to her and stood there. "What's going on?" 

"Why do you care?!" She exploded at him. "I'm not even your friend, you just tolerate me cause Webby's likes me so much! So why. do. you. care!" 

"Feel better?" Was his response and he said it so calmly that it just made her even more mad. 

"No! I don't understand why you care, what have I done for you?" 

He furrowed his eyebrow, "Lena people can care about you just because, you don't _have_ to do things for them. Not unless you actually want to. People care because they want to, I care because you're Webby's friend and I want to. And I know you're really upsetting her by being out here and I know you don't want that so tell me what's wrong. She doesn't have to know if you don't want her to but you can't hide from her forever." 

Lena sighed. "I don't know how to be a better friend to her and it's really bugging me. She's done so much for me and I feel like I'm not doing enough back." 

"She adores you you know that right? I'm pretty sure you can do no wrong in her eyes, that doesn't sound like a bad friend to me." He reassured her and she didn't have to fully pay attention to him to hear the caring tone in his voice. It made her feel sick. Why did these people care about her? She had done nothing but be mean and defensive, they shouldn't care about her. 

"How do you do that?" She quietly demanded to know. "Care about someone you barely even know, someone who's been nothing but mean to you?" 

He shrugged, "My siblings always say I have a problem with trusting people too easily. It's just always been easy for me to care about other people, no matter how much it comes back to bite me. That's easier than caring about myself and dealing with my problems. Cause then I have to admit something's wrong with me, and I don't want to do that. But mostly I care about other people because I like caring about other people, it means they're there and I'm not alone. It's really hard being alone." He finished knowingly. 

"You guys are too good at reading people." She sighed. "I don't like being alone, but I'd rather be alone than hurt." 

"But you have to be hurt to feel better, you have to take the bad with the good otherwise you have nothing. And how can you survive with nothing? Not very well I imagine. Besides, who says Webby will ever hurt you? That's not her." 

"I know it's not but who says I won't hurt her? That's what I always seem to do, hurt the people I try to care about. I don't want to do that to her." She didn't know why she was opening up so much to him but she guessed it was for the same reason the others did it, he was easy to talk to. 

"Hurting's a part of life, the important thing is that you learn from it and do better. My siblings and I hurt each other sometimes, it's never intentional but it still happens. But we get past it and move on, and we're usually closer for it. It's in times of trouble that we learn who we really are." 

She snorted, "Thanks fortune cookie." He rolled his eyes. "But I guess you're right, I shouldn't worry so much about hurting her cause then it'll definitely happen... She's my first friend, the first person I ever wanted to care about, but I don't know how to do that." 

He nodded in acknowledgment. "It's not so easy for some people, and I can't imagine you've had an easy life. But having people care about you means that they'll be patient, and they won't be mad at you when you mess up, they'll only try to help make it better. And caring about someone means that you're capable of feeling something, and for someone else. Not a lot of people can truly do that, but I've seen the way you are with her, you're already there. You just have to realize it." Maybe she was, she liked Webby she was fun to be around and the only person who really understood her. She was the one person she couldn't bear to upset, wasn't that was caring about someone was? 

It had to be, that's how the boys were with each other. Huey wasn't the only one who saw things, she saw things too and knew that they cared about each other very much. Anyone could see that actually but it had taken her more time than most. In her defense she had a lot of things on her mind. 

"I do care about Webby, a lot. And that's why you can't tell her about this conversation, that's why _I_ have to be the one to tell her. She's gonna worry no matter what so I might as well tell her the truth." 

"Louie told you that didn't they?" 

She nodded then paused, "Wait, they?" 

"Oh thought Webby might've mentioned it, Louie's non-binary." Oh, that actually made a lot of sense when she thought about it. They hadn't once been referred to as a boy while she was around and the others had called the triplets the triplets and not the boys or something similar. 

"I'll remember that." She noted and noticed Huey relax slightly, she would really have to remember not to misgender Louie around him or Dewey, she had a feeling it would not end well. Though she couldn't imagine it going much better with the others so she would have to not do it at all. Plus for some reason the idea of misgendering someone made her feel ill, that was a problem for later.    

* * *

She didn't expect to end up relating to Dewey the most but that's what ended up happening. Lena first thought he was just the middle child with clear attention issues who was the most likely to go off on his own. And she didn't pay any more attention to him, he was clearly the one who didn't like her the most and she felt the same way back. She didn't have time for people who always had to be the center of attention, it reminded her too much of her aunt. But, like his brother, he ended up seeking her out. 

"You're keeping something from Webby." He said to her one day while she was waiting for Webby to get back from somewhere with her Granny. And he didn't say it accusingly, he just stated a fact. But it made her get defensive none the less. 

"I have no secrets." 

"Everyone has secrets." He replied cryptically. "I don't care what it is I just don't want her to get hurt." 

"I don't want that either." She quietly told him and he nodded satisfied. He was about to walk off but suddenly paused. 

"I know how hard it is to keep a secret." He said sympathetically. "The guilt that eats you alive. The sick feeling you get from lying to the people closest to you. Knowing they would understand if you just told them but you're already in way too deep." 

"... What's your point?" 

"It sucks. The worst part is not knowing how they will react when they find out. Will they be mad? Upset? Will that finally be the thing that pushes them away? Eventually you start trying to avoid them because you know you'll say something if you don't, you can't keep anything from them but you have to. For their own good. But it's the hardest thing you've ever had to do." 

"That pretty much sums it up." She looked down. "She'd hate me, this is a bad one Dewey."

"Aren't they all? Webby could never hate anybody." A huge part of her knew that but another, irrational, part of her said otherwise. It convinced her that Webby would hate her for betraying her and her family. She could always choose not to but did she really have a choice? She wanted her freedom from her aunt and this was the only way to get it. That was the only thing she was certain of, but was it worth it? 

"Maybe I want her to hate me." Lena admitted and that's what it really boiled down to wasn't it? It would be easier if Webby did hate her, if she blamed her for everything that would eventually happen. But that wasn't Webby. And it hopefully never would be. 

"Yerp I get that. But, people can surprise you sometimes. The more you want them to hate you, to be mad at you the less they are. It's very frustrating." 

She raised an eyebrow, "You sound like you have some experience with that." 

"The minute my siblings figure out I want them to be mad at me is the minute they stop. But then we talk about things and suddenly they're not so bad anymore. I know they would eventually understand if I told them my secret but this is just something they can't know. It's too life-changing." 

"You're ten how life-changing could it be?"

"You'd be surprised. No matter what you end up doing don't hurt Webby." He pleaded. 

"Getting hurt's part of life." She shortly replied, she knew she would end up hurting her and there was nothing she could do about it. That's just the way things were sometimes. 

"Huey." Dewey grumbled under his breath. "This kind of hurt can be avoided so don't do it, you'll end up regretting it for the rest of your life, Uncle Scrooge's words not mine. But I know where he's coming from. No good comes from keeping secrets, and I'm totally aware I'm being a hypocrite but this won't end well for either of us. It won't end well for anyone and they deserve better than that, so whatever it is just tell her." She should, she knew she should but something was holding her back, or someone. If she tried to say anything her aunt would definitely stop her. And that wouldn't end well. Neither situation would but at least in the first one nothing would happen to her. But it would to Webby. 

"I can't. Maybe you should worry about your own secrets." She deflected to try to get him to leave her alone but all he did was glare. It was slightly unnerving. She wasn't gonna say anything though, that would be dumb. 

"I've been worrying about my own secrets for weeks but you don't seem too bothered by yours." _That_ was accusatory and she didn't like it. 

She glared at him, "Back off." The last thing she wanted right now was someone telling her what she felt, especially him. He didn't even know how _he_ was feeling he couldn't judge her. She wouldn't let him. "You know you're talking about my problems a lot but conveniently little about yours, what, are you afraid I'll say something to them?" 

"You don't care about my problems." He stated knowingly. "And I don't care about yours, I don't like you and I know you don't like me. I only came to talk to you to verify things I already knew and I ended up trying to help because I knew what you were going through and I felt bad. But if you're not gonna really think about it then what's the point? You know Huey was so quick to assure us that you do care about Webby but I don't think that's really true. The only person you care about is yourself." She was about to retaliate when she remembered something she read, 'we point out the things in others that we don't like about ourselves'. And she had been doing it too. 

"You're right." She said quietly. "I'm so messed up I can only really care about myself but I'm trying to care about her, I want to care about her. She makes me want to care about her. And that's why I can't tell her this, I'm scared she'll stop caring about me and then it'll just be, me again. If anyone can relate to that it's you." He looked at her surprised. "You said it yourself keeping a secret sucks, but I have to keep this from her, for her own good. Even if it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do." 

Dewey's eyes softened and it was his turn to look down. "Sorry for snapping. I just don't want anyone to get hurt. But it's too late for that and I've gotta deal with the consequences whenever they find out."

"Do you think they'll hate you?" Lena asked quietly and he shook his head. 

"No way, they'll be super mad though. Webby won't be, her first instinct will be to help you, but she'll definitely be hurt that you kept something from her. She'll understand why but she'll be hurt, she doesn't believe in keeping things from people." 

"I can't tell her, I can't deal with this yet. I don't think I'll ever be ready to deal with it, the hurt look on her face will haunt my dreams. I can't do that to her but eventually I'll have to. This whole thing sucks." 

"We brought it on ourselves." Except she didn't, her aunt brought this on her but she very well couldn't tell him that. It was true though, if her aunt wasn't in her shadow she would never have had to do this. But then she wouldn't have ever met Webby and she would still be alone right now. Maybe that was for the best, then Webby would never have to get hurt by her. She'd rather be alone than hurt. 

That was the end of that conversation but she started thinking about the triplets again. There was a lot more to them that she first realized, they had struggles just like her yet they had come out stronger for it. And they helped her even though they didn't really like her, to them she was only Webby's friend. She had to give them credit, they were certainly better than she was. And maybe she had more in common with them than just Webby, and maybe she was starting to be okay with that. 


	52. Realization Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scrooge realizes how much Donald actually does.  
> Set sometime after Huey's arc.

Scrooge wasn't blind, he knew Donald did a lot but until he moved back into the mansion he didn't know how much. He never really saw it first hand, now that Donald was around more that was slowly changing. And he was glad for it, he had missed his nephew over the years, just as much as he missed his niece, and now he was back with three great additions. He loved getting to know the triplets and though it was kind of rocky at the start things were very much improving. But he loved re-getting to know Donald just as much, again things were rocky in the beginning, and not much better now, but he loved his nephew and always would. 

Which was why he was so hurt when realized that he hadn't fully appreciated him. Donald did a lot of things, not just for the kids but for everyone else as well and Scrooge never noticed it until that moment. Well it was really a collection of different moments but it hit him all at once. Like how he had very tiring jobs but always managed to have time to spend with the kids or how he helped Betina with dinner most times even though he had to be exhausted. And no one ever asked him to do those things, he just did them. 

His nephew sure was great. And he was starting to realize just how much he had always taken advantage of it. Before what happened to Della his main focus had been her, he saw a lot of himself in her and it was sometimes easy to forget Donald was also there. He never noticed how much they had in common as well. 

One of the best things about his nephew was how hardworking he was. And he managed to show it every day, without complaint. Well, there might have been some complaint but no one was perfect. And every time he was knocked down he was able to pick himself back up, not to mention how protective he was about the people he cared about. Those were all things Scrooge prided himself on having, but things he had a hard time seeing in others. So it wasn't until he started giving Donald the attention he deserved that he started seeing those things in him. 

The first time he really noticed how much Donald actually did was after he and the kids had gotten back from a tiresome adventure. As soon as he opened the mansion's door Donald was there and checking over the kids despite looking like he wanted to pass out. It was clear he had been waiting for them to get back. And the first thing the triplets had done when they got there was flock to him. They had had a long day and wanted to be taken care of, which Donald immediately did. In a second he had gone from looking like was about to pass out to a concerned parent who had three kids to look after. 

It reminded Scrooge of how he used to be with him and Della. 

Cause while he took them on all sorts of adventures he was also the one who looked after them after they got back. He knew first hand how tiring that job could be, but he also knew the joy that came with it. Being those twos' Uncle was the best thing he ever did. And it looked like he had managed to pass that onto Donald. 

Scrooge had never seen him happier than when he was with the triplets. And considering he adored Della growing up that was saying something. 

When he offered Donald a job at his company his first expectation was that he would say no. That he'd rather go broke than work for him but then he looked at the triplets and agreed. Even after them moving into the mansion he still wanted to be the main one looking out for them. That was something Scrooge could sympathize with. The first day of the job had gone less than ideal but by the end of the week Donald was slowly getting the hang of things. He expected nothing less. 

But again no matter how tired Donald was by the end of the day he still made time for the kids. And no matter how much sleep he had gotten the night before he was there every morning to wake the triplets. And that wasn't an easy task. Huey got up well enough but his siblings always had a harder time, sometimes Louie just flat out refused to get out of bed. But still, Donald was there and patient and stayed as long as he had to even if he was late for work. And he never got mad at them for it, just waited for them to get up or decide that it was a bad day. 

And he knew exactly what to do if one of them was having a bad day, something Scrooge still couldn't pick up. For Donald the triplets always came first, even at his own expense and he never once complained about it. Something Scrooge had had difficulty with. 

He loved his niece and nephew but sometimes he had wished he hadn't taken them in. He had longed for the times he was alone in the mansion but then they'd crossed his path and he had quickly forgotten it. But from what he'd seen Donald never did that, he didn't want to be alone. Growing up he had always been around someone so it was hard not to be. And that was where the two of them differed. 

And it was arguably what made Donald a better parent. 

* * *

The next time he noticed it was once again with the triplets. The five of them had been hanging out in the den for an Uncles-and-niblings night and had just finished a movie when Huey let out a yawn. 

"Wait, Huey no." Dewey protested but Louie then had also yawned. 

"Looks like it's time for bed."

"Darnit." They had both gone up with the triplets to make sure they went to bed but Donald was the one who tucked them in and gave them goodnight kisses. Just like he always did. The one time he forgot to wasn't something Scrooge wanted to ever see again. And he would've joined in but it felt out of place, like something he didn't really deserve. 

And after Donald noticed him watching the scene with a small smile he had asked him why he was doing that. "It's just nice ta see how ye are with them." He had responded, because it was true, if Donald could take pride it one thing it was that he was really good with them. But he also knew that his nephew didn't always see that. It was obvious he loved them but he didn't see how much they loved him in return. Scrooge hoped he would be able to one day. 

But Donald wasn't just there for the triplets, he had practically adopted Webby as well. And it was safe to say Webby liked him very much, he was her idol. It was always nice to see them interact, once they were finally able to do it and it was clear she reminded him of Della. She reminded Scrooge of Della too. But they both liked her for more than that, she reminded them of Della but she was Webby. And there was really no one like Webby.   

His nephew did a lot on top of caring for the kids, like work a 9 to 5 job 5 days a week and fix the houseboat once again. Scrooge was worried he would collapse from all the work but he seemed fine. Still, he would have to keep an eye on him. It was the least he deserved, he looked after everyone else he needed someone to look after him to even if he didn't see it. That was more than fine with Scrooge, it would save him a confrontation he really didn't want to have and it would spare Donald's pride. He was so convinced he could look after himself that the mere thought of asking someone for help was unfathomable. 

Scrooge could relate. 

But he wanted to do something for Donald, to show how much he and everyone else appreciated everything he did. Cause now that he knew how much that really was he was planning on never taking advantage of it again. He just had to get everyone else on board, but he imagined that wouldn't be too hard. He was sure they would want to show just how much they appreciated Donald as well. 

The only question was how to pull it off, he would definitely need help with that. Luckily he knew where to turn. The triplets would surely know how to help, they were the ones who probably knew him the best, besides... 

He went to look for them before he could go too far down that road, that never ended well. He ended up finding them in the first place he looked to his not surprise. They either hung out in their room or the den unless they were doing something that required them not to. Today they were in the latter watching the same show they always watched for some reason he couldn't understand. Kids. 

"Kiddos ae need yer help with somethin'." He announced as he sat next to them.

They looked at him with interest. "What?" 

"So ae dinnae know if ye noticed but yer Uncle does a lot around here and fer all o' us. Ae want ta thank him fer it, ae just dinnae know how ta do it." 

"And you thought _we_ could help with that?" Dewey asked confused. 

"Yew know him a lot better than ae do. Yer the anes whae have lived with him fer the past ten years." They looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding. 

"Okay, we'll help." 

* * *

With that set up the four of them began planning and were soon joined by everyone else excluding Donald. By the end of the day they had a definite plan, they would throw a party for him. They even knew when it would be, the next day, they just needed someone to get him out of the mansion while they prepared. Scrooge volunteered for that part, mostly because he didn't want to set up for a party, and everyone else agreed that was best. 

When the next day rolled around Scrooge was at the houseboat before Donald had even woken up. He had been determined to not set up any decorations as he found that quite tiresome. But he was looking forward to most of this day just being him and his nephew, it had been long overdue. Donald had been suspicious to see him there after he woke up but he managed to evade it and soon they were off for the day. 

While they were out Donald kept asking him why they were out and Scrooge had to pretend that didn't hurt. It was mostly at himself for not doing something like this sooner. But this afternoon would fix that, or it would start to and right now that had to be good enough for him. Hopefully it would be for Donald too. 

Eventually Scrooge got a call that said that the others were done setting up and they could come back. Which worked perfectly because Donald was getting more and more suspicious by the minute. And the 'just wanting to hang out' reason wasn't working anymore, Scrooge never did anything without an ulterior motive and he knew that. And so did his nephew. 

As they arrived at the mansion Scrooge started to get a little nervous, he really hoped Donald liked this. He deserved to be celebrated, and who better to do it than his family? Scrooge's only worry was that he wouldn't accept it, that he wouldn't think he deserved it. But he wouldn't blame him for it, he would be the same way if he were in that position.

He opened the door to the mansion and flicked the light on, "SUPRISE!" The others shouted as they hoped up from the hiding spots. Everyone including him then turned to Donald to see his reaction, it was mostly confusion so Scrooge set to explain what was going on. 

"We wanted ta say thank ye fer everythin' yew've done around here, and ae may not be the biggest fan o' parties but yew deserve one." 

"It was Uncle Scrooge's idea." Huey added on. 

Donald turned to him with tears in his eyes and he thought that he would be upset but was surprised when he hugged him instead. "Thank you." He whispered. 

"Anytime nephew, it's the least you deserve." After that the triplets had dragged them into the foyer and started talking about how everyone set the party up. They listened intently and chimed in every now and then to let them know they were still listening.  

As the party went on Scrooge managed to spend time with everyone there and at some point had gotten back to his nephew who looked happier than he had ever been. It was a nice look on him. "Enjoyin' the party?" 

"I am. I don't know if I deserve it but it's nice to be appreciated." 

"Yew do deserve it, ye do so much around here and fer everyone, on top o' workin' a 9 ta 5 job and fixin' the houseboat. A lot o' people would collapse from all the weight but yew just keep goin', it's worrisome sometimes but it's also admirable. Ae'm sorry fer not seein' how much yew did befer, ae'm hopin' this starts ta make up fer it. Ae'm proud o' yew nephew." 

He smiled at him, "Thanks Uncle Scrooge." 

After the party was over and everyone was done cleaning up it was time for the kids to go to bed. Scrooge could feel the triplets wanted a moment alone with Donald so he offered to help Betina with Webby. 

Donald waited for them to talk as he took them up to bed, he had been pleasantly surprised when he found out they were the ones who suggested the party but he knew they felt like that wasn't enough. He did though, in his eyes it was more than enough but he wanted to hear what they had to say, he always did. They didn't say anything until they got to their room like they were trying to think of what to say. The looks that kept passing between them made him think that that was the case. 

"We just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for us." Huey finally said and his siblings nodded in agreement. "You've raised us, even after we moved in here. It doesn't feel like there's anything that's enough to thank you for that." 

Donald sighed and sat on Louie's bed. "Sometimes it feels like I don't do enough." He confessed as they also sat on the bed. "I couldn't give everything you wanted, I still can't. You had to live a boat for ten years, you constantly got made fun of cause we were poor, no matter what I do those things don't change."

"That stuff doesn't matter, we know it doesn't. You're there for us when it counts, anytime we needed something no matter what you were doing you were there, you always put us first, you make us feel safe and protected, you accept us. We love you Uncle Donald." Dewey's siblings hurriedly agreed and Donald teared up for the second time that day. He then grabbed them in a hug, they were right he was there when it counted and that was what mattered. 

"I love you kids too, you have no idea how much."

Lately he had been feeling down about himself but today showed him how much his family cared about him, something he hadn't always been sure about. He was so sure Scrooge preferred Della and the kids preferred Scrooge that he didn't stop to think that maybe that wasn't true. But he knew now that it was, that they cared about him and it made him feel so much better. It made him feel like things would be okay, that this family could actually be a family once again and he's never wanted anything more than that. And now he knew they wanted that too. 

That was all that really mattered. 


	53. The Run-In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids have an unfortunate run-in.  
> Set sometime after Huey's arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of homophobic language in the beginning so if you're triggered by that stuff this is your warning.

The day had started very normal, unfortunately it didn't stay that way. The four of them were out for ice cream just talking about different things when it happened. Well nothing really happened at first, it wasn't until Dewey mentioned a guy he liked that someone felt the need to come up to them. Obviously they had overheard as Dewey wasn't trying to be quiet at all, but that was pretty normal for him. And it wasn't like he was trying to draw attention to himself, he just wanted to have a conversation with his siblings. But apparently that was too much to ask. 

All Dewey had done was make a small comment and suddenly they were there. And before any of them knew what was going on the person had started talking. She sounded nice but none of them really liked what she said. "Why do you think you like boys? Boys shouldn't like other boys, they should like girls." She said it patiently but in a way that said she was right and he wasn't. They didn't like that, they knew she was wrong. 

Dewey just wanted to get ice cream so all he replied was, "I do like boys and I also like girls, they're both great why should I chose?" Webby made a noise of agreement but the lady scrunched her face up. And that was when Huey decided he had had enough. 

"Who are you to tell people who they can and can't like?" He demanded to know. "Dewey likes boys and girls so does Webby, I don't like anyone, how does that affect your life?" He asked leaving out the fact that Louie liked boys, he knew they weren't as open about it as the rest of them were. And that was fine, not everyone needs to know, as long as they were comfortable with it he didn't care. 

"You're just kids you don't know anything." The lady brushed off and that was one thing Huey really hated about some adults. They thought that kids knew nothing when they usually knew more than they did. It was something that made him grateful for his adult family members. None of them were like that. 

"We know more than you." Louie spoke for the first time. "Now am I gonna have to call our Uncle with a world-famous-temper or can we go?" 

The lady raised an eyebrow, "Does your Uncle let you think this way?" She asked accusingly and that put them all even more on edge. No one talked about their family like that. 

"Let us? Lady, he encourages us to and good thing with people like you out there. There's nothing you can say that'll get us to see things like you do so you might as well just go away." But she didn't, she refused to leave or let them leave which made them start to get scared so Louie called their Uncle and told him what was going on. 

He was there in less than five minutes. 

And once he got there he was able to get her to leave but not before she said a few more things he never wanted the kids to hear. After that he loaded them into his car and started to drive to the mansion but then Dewey asked if they could still go get ice cream.   

"You still feel up to that?" He asked them surprised and they readily agreed. He shouldn't have been too surprised though, as upsetting as that had to be to hear he knew how confident they all were with who they were. And he was so proud of them. So, he took them for ice cream. 

When they got to the ice cream shop most of the kids ran in but Dewey stayed behind. And that made Donald aware something was wrong, he was the one who asked if they could go there. "Dewey? What's wrong?" 

"I was the one who got her attention." Donald's face softened. "She could've hurt us, she could've hurt them and it would've been because of what _I_ said."  

"This wasn't your fault." He tried to comfort Dewey. 

"I know. It was hers, people like that, are _awful._ I don't understand how they can think things like that, I don't want to understand I just want them to go away. I don't want them to ever have to deal with someone like her again." He whispered that last part as he looked into the ice cream shop where his siblings were. Donald didn't want that either, for any of them. 

"I don't want that for any of you. But you all handled it in the best way possible, you called someone. You're kids, you can't handle people like that on your own, and you shouldn't have to. Because you're right, she could've hurt you, she did hurt you just not physically. Dealing with people like that is never easy. And it never gets easy but it's easier when you're not alone. Now, let's go get some ice cream." Dewey smiled at him and ran into the shop as he followed behind. When he got in there he saw that the other kids had already gotten their ice cream and were sitting at a table eating it so he went to join them. 

He asked them if they were okay and they all said they were to his relief. Then they asked if Dewey was okay and he told them that he was, that he had just been upset which was understandable. They agreed. Once Dewey also got to the table and started eating Donald quickly got their attention, 

"We need to talk about what happened. It was something I hoped would never happen to any of you but some people are just, like that. I'm very proud of the way you all handled it and that you didn't let her get to you, that's how people like that win. The only way to really win against them is to not let them get to you, to just continue being yourself. And to know that they're wrong and as long as they continue to think like that they will always be wrong." 

"Why did she have to come bug us? We were just trying to have a conversation but she felt like she just had to say something." Louie said annoyed and Huey placed a hand on them comfortingly. 

"Some people are just like that." Donald exhaustedly repeated. "I'd tell you to ignore them but that's easier said than done." The kids nodded in agreement. "If someone like that bugs you again just do what you did this time, call someone. Don't try to deal with people like that on your own, you never know what they are capable of. And I'm not telling you this to scare you or to make you not openly talk about that stuff, I'm only telling you this to make you be careful." And he hated that he had to tell them all this stuff, he really did, but it was something they unfortunately needed to know.  

"I don't mind if you got out on your own still." He continued. "And I don't want this to discourage you from doing that but I also want you to be safe. I want people like that to never get to you, for you to not let them, I want you to have no problems being who you are. But more than anything I want you to stay safe, to come back to the mansion with nothing being wrong. There's always going to be people like that in the world, no matter what we do. So all we can do is make them be silent, but you four need to focus on being kids before anything else. You only have a few years to do that, don't waste them." 

"We won't." Huey promised. 

"We did try to deal with her on our own." Webby said next because she felt like not saying something would be lying. And she did not like lying. "But no matter what we said she was just so convinced she was right. But she wasn't and we couldn't do anything about it, we felt like that only thing we _could_ do was call you. But we only did that after she really started to scare us." 

"She said we didn't know anything cause we're kids, she's the one who doesn't know anything. We were definitely right to call you. It just really sucks that there are people like that still out there, but at least we have each other right?" The other kids agreed with Huey and Donald smiled, he was glad that no matter how bad things got they would have each other. That's what got you through things like that, he would know. And with that in mind he decided it was finally time to tell them something. 

"That's how you get through it. I would know, considering I'm Pansexual." 

"Cooool, you're one of us!" Dewey said cheerfully. The other kids had similar reactions and it made Donald feel even better about telling them. He felt like they deserved to know and it wasn't anything he was trying to keep secret anyway. But they had told him about them so it was only fair he told them about him too. 

"So there's no one straight in our family huh?" Louie noticed with a smirk. 

"Scrooooge?" Webby responded and they gave her a 'really' look, their Uncle Scrooge definitely wasn't straight. She then thought about it for a few seconds and nodded giving that to them. 

"Well no there has to be one person." Huey argued. 

"Why? Why does there have to be one person?" Dewey annoyedly replied making the conversation shift to that. It was a welcome shift. They were done lingering on the previous topic as none of them had wanted to in the first place. It wasn't something they liked talking about and didn't want to do it any longer than they had to. But it was something they had to do eventually and something they would have to revisit in the future, hopefully it would be a while before it happened though. 

For now they were done with it and were just enjoying each others company. And Donald hoped it taught the kids a valuable lesson, as long as they had their family they would be okay. But that was something they already knew. 

Their past experiences had taught them that. 


	54. Hanging Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adults spend time with their respective niblings.  
> Set sometime after Huey's arc.

Huey smiled as he met up with his Cousin Fethry, he had been looking forward to this day for a while. They were going to be spending some time together just one-on-one and he loved his siblings but it was kind of a relief to get away from them for a while. They were awfully loud sometimes. Today his Cousin was going to be taking him to the science museum, something he had been wanting to do for a while. He had never been due to Dewey and Louie not wanting to go, which was fine he accepted that they had different interests, but now he was getting to go. And with someone who was just as interested in science as he was. 

And he was getting to hang out with his Cousin for the whole day. Something his Uncle Donald had been apprehensive about but was quick to agree when he saw how excited Huey was. Things between him and Fethry had improved somewhat but Huey knew he still thought of him as 'cuckoo-cuckoo bananas'. So it was a pretty big step that he was trusting him with Huey for the whole day. And it was one Huey was excited for. He wanted nothing more for than his family to get along and it looked like that was starting to happen. 

"So, where are we headed first?" They spent the first half of the day going through different exhibits before they started getting hungry and took a break to get lunch. And as they did that they talked about the things they had seen. It made Huey happy, to talk about things he liked with people who also liked them. It was refreshing and it was something he hoped he could continue to do. If not with his Cousin then at least with Fenton and Gyro, just as long as it was someone who was just as into this stuff as he was. But he liked spending time with Fethry and hoped he would be able to do it more in the future. 

"This has been really fun." He told Fethry who had lit up as soon as he heard that. He must've not been used to being told that, that was something Huey could relate to. "What's next?" 

"You want to do more?" Fethry asked incredulously. 

"Are you kidding? I never want this day to end! Oh, maybe we can go see one of those movies!" He replied pointing to a wall of the museum where a bunch of movie posters were shown. 

Fethry smiled, "Sounds like a plan Little Donald!" They talked about what movie to see as Huey absentmindedly checked his phone. He was excepting a check-in text from his Uncle Donald and was surprised to see there was none, what was he doing? He decided to figure it out later and went back to focusing all his attention on his Cousin. 

After lunch was over they went to see the next movie that was playing, it was about space and he briefly thought that Dewey might've enjoyed it. He would tell him about it later. Once they got into the theater Fethry started talking about how he hadn't seen a movie in years and Huey couldn't imagine what that must've been like. And it got him thinking how horrible his Cousin's isolation really had been. At least it wasn't like that anymore. His Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald had both apologized for doing that, even if it had been more Scrooge than Donald and Fethry had forgiven them. And the three of them and his Uncle Gladstone were starting to reconnect, it was something that had been a long time coming. It was also something he and his siblings were really excited about. 

But right now was his time with Fethry and they were going to see a really cool movie. As they watched Huey thought about how fun this day was and how he wished it could've happened sooner. He wondered why his Uncle Donald lost touch with him, and everyone else really. Was raising him and his siblings really that time-consuming? If that was the case he hoped his Uncle wasn't mad at them for it, but that didn't sound like him so he figured he wasn't. But he also figured it must've been really lonely. He hoped his Uncle wasn't lonely anymore. 

As they left the theater his Cousin must've noticed how quiet he was because he asked him, "Is everything okay Little Donald?" 

"Yeah, I'm just thinking. Do you think Uncle Donald's lonely?" 

Fethry looked at him surprised, "What brought that up?" 

"Well raising me and my siblings took up all of his time, so much so that he had to push everyone away. With just the four of us and no one his age around he must've been really lonely. I'm just worried that he still is." He hoped that wasn't the case, he knew how bad feeling lonely could be. He didn't want that for his Uncle. 

"I'm sure he's not, there's so many people at the mansion and the money bin. It's pretty much impossible to feel lonely with all those people around." But Huey knew that wasn't true, there was plenty of time when he was around a lot of people and still felt lonely. The only exceptions to that were Dewey and Louie, he never felt alone around them. 

"I bet if Mom was still here he wouldn't feel that way." He noticed Fethry's face fall and felt bad for bringing her up, it was a sore spot in this family. So, he tried to change the subject. "That movie was really cool, I mean I already knew a bunch of that stuff but there was some stuff I didn't. Plus, space itself is so cool I could stare at those pictures all day!" He said in a dreamy tone and Fethry chuckled. 

"Yeah it's pretty cool... thanks for hanging out with me today Little Donald." 

"It was no problem Cousin Fethry. Thanks for bringing me here, I've been wanting to come for ages! Maybe we could come back sometime?" He suggested hopefully. 

Fethry smiled, "I'd really like that."

They decided to call it a day after that. At least for the museum part, it was only like three there was still plenty of the day left to kill. After that they walked around town for a while, Huey showing his Cousin different things and Fethry eagerly following along. This had turned out to be a day both of them needed and they were glad to spend it with each other. They were also glad they would be able to do it in the future. Like Huey said earlier, it was nice to be able to do things with people that enjoyed them. And it was nice to connect to someone he had a lot in common with.

Hopefully they would be able to get even closer in the time to come. 

* * *

Meanwhile Louie was hanging out with Gladstone. He had invited them to come to his yacht, just them. Because while he liked the other kids he adored Louie and wanted to spend time with his favorite nibling. Of course when he had told them that they had responded that they were his only nibling. But Huey had plans with Fethry so they figured they had nothing better to do. Dewey would probably be busy with Webby anyway. 

After their Uncle Donald dropped them off at the marina and told them to call him if they needed him they went up to the yacht. They weren't surprised their Uncle didn't want to come up with them, he still found Gladstone very exhausting. Louie didn't really get it but there were a lot of things they didn't get about their family. They were looking forward to spending time with their other uncle however so they quickly forgot about it.

They wondered what they would be doing, and how you could spend all day on a yacht. There didn't seem to be a lot to do on it but they were sure their Uncle had tons of things planned. They were wrong. As soon as they met up with him they could tell he had absolutely nothing planned. 

"Hey Green-bean there you are! I was starting to think Don wasn't letting you come after all." He said it nonchalantly but Louie could tell he had been worried. It made them feel like he really did want to spend time with them.  

"Nah there was just a lot of traffic. So what are we doing?" 

Gladstone shrugged, "I got no plans, just figured we'd hang out all day." Louie had to admit they weren't used to there being no plan. Huey and his sibling calendar had always had something for the three of them to do. It was a bit unnerving but they were willing to give it a try. If they really didn't like it they were sure they would be able to come up with some sort of plan. 

They just hung around with their Uncle until about lunchtime, watching the clouds and talking about nothing in particular. It had been surprisingly nice but now they were hungry. They thought maybe the two of them would move to go eat but Gladstone rang a bell and food was delivered right to them. Yup, they could definitely get used to this kind of treatment.

As they were eating they decided that they didn't want this day to end. It had been very relaxing and after everything that had happened they needed to relax. Maybe that was why their Uncle wanted them to visit. They hoped it wasn't the only reason though, they really liked their Uncle and wanted him to like them too. They had already gone through other members of their family not being too fond of them, they couldn't do it again. 

"Did you invite me here because you wanted to hang out or cause you thought I needed a break?" 

"Both." Gladstone honestly answered and Louie nodded, they had been right. "Why ya asking?" 

They sighed, "I don't know, I guess I just don't want to have to deal with another family member not liking me or pitying me. Like what Uncle Scrooge and Webby used to do, it doesn't bug me as much as it used to but I don't wanna go through it again." 

"Well I can assure you that's not the case here. I like you Green Bean, you're my favorite nibling you always have been. Even when you were one of the nephews you were still my favorite. And I like hanging out with you, and so do a lot of people maybe you should give yourself more credit." 

"My brothers say the same thing." They admitted, and they tried to listen to them and they had come along way but they still had moments like this, they probably always would. But now they knew for sure they had their brothers and their Uncle Donald, there were no more doubts about that so they liked to call that progress. The rest of their family on the other hand, it would be a while before they were also sure they had them. But they felt like this conversation was a step in the right direction. 

"You should probably listen to them. I don't have any siblings but Donald and Della were usually right about stuff like that and they were the closest things I had to siblings growing up sooo..." He trailed off but if it was because he brought up Della Louie didn't know. And they didn't really want to know. They preferred to not think about her. So they chose to believe he stopped because he didn't have anything else to add. 

"Thanks for inviting me here today Uncle Gladstone, it's been fun." 

"It's only lunchtime, there's still more fun to be had Green Bean." Louie looked at him with interest, 

"Like what?" And that was how they ended up getting a tour of the yacht. There looked like there was a lot to do on it, they could see how their Uncle could easily live on it. But other than some staff there was nobody around, it had to be really lonely. Though their Uncle didn't look lonely, but looks could be deceiving, they knew that better than anyone. 

"Does it ever get lonely, living on here?" Gladstone shrugged so they figured he was fine but they couldn't help but add, "If you wanted to come by the mansion sometime I'm sure that wouldn't be so bad." 

"I'll keep that in mind Green Bean." They continued around the yacht after that, only stopping when they came across an arcade. Louie wasn't the best at most arcade games but they were still fun. So that's where the two of them ended up spending the rest of the day. And it was honestly the most fun they had had in a while. But when they told their Uncle that it looked like he didn't really believe them. It was almost like he'd never heard something like that. Or maybe he just wasn't use to Louie saying something like that. They weren't used to it either, they weren't exactly known for openly sharing their feelings. But they thought this time could be one of the exceptions. 

"We should do this more often, hang out just us." They suggested and Gladstone agreed though it seemed hesitant to Louie. Maybe he thought Donald wouldn't agree to it. They hoped that was the case anyway. "If you're worried about my Uncle I know ways to get around him." Gladstone cracked a smile at that, 

"So do I but I don't think he'd be very happy with us doing that." Louie nodded in agreement. "It's not that, I'm just not in town a lot but we can totally hang out when I am." And they wondered why he wasn't in town a lot before deciding that it was probably a grown-up thing and they were better off not knowing. They would just have to make the best of the time he was in town. And find someone else to hang out with when he wasn't. But that wouldn't be too hard, they had two people who were always willing to hang out with them. Still it was nice to be with his Uncle, it wasn't often they were around people who were similar to them. 

Louie had to admit when they first got there they had no idea how badly they needed this day. They had needed to just sit back and relax more than they knew and they were glad they got to spend it with their Uncle Gladstone. And they were glad for the times they would get to in the future as well. 

* * *

Dewey sighed as he scrolled through his phone, with both his siblings out for the day he was bored. And he was glad they were getting to spend time with their other Uncles but he was so bored without them. He would've gone to find Webby but he saw her go somewhere with Mrs. Beakley a few minutes ago. So he was currently alone, and he hated it. 

"Get off the counter Dewey." His Uncle Donald said as he entered the kitchen. 

"But I'm gay?" He gave him a look so he sighed and got down. "Just get back from dropping Louie off?" 

"Yeah, where are the others?" 

"Webby went somewhere with Mrs. B and I think Uncle Scrooge went into work? It's just me here." He said sadly and his Uncle looked at him sympathetically. 

"Do you wanna do something with me?" Dewey perked up and agreed so they went out to the houseboat while they tried to think of something to do. Eventually they agreed to hang out on the boat. Something Dewey was actually really excited for, he hadn't been on the boat in a while. Which was weird considering he still considered it home, it was where he and his siblings had grown up for ten years and it was where his Uncle was most of the time. He just never made it out there much, but that was about to change. And he was gonna spend time with his favorite Uncle, it was a win-win.    

For a while they played one of the boardgames that was on the boat until they started to get hungry. They agreed to call the game a draw even though Dewey was clearly winning, he would let his Uncle have that one. He didn't care anyway, he liked playing games regardless of if he was winning or losing, they were still fun. And it was fun playing with his Uncle. He wasn't as competitive as Scrooge or Webby but he was the just enough to where the game was still fun. Like how Dewey thought he was but his siblings always told him otherwise. He stopped listening to them about it a while ago. He figured they were just jealous. 

After he thanked his Uncle for lunch and they started eating he began thinking of how much fun this day had been so far. Much more than he had been expecting, he thought he would spend the whole day being bored while his siblings had fun but that had quickly changed. 

"Thanks for hanging out with me today Uncle Donald, this is really fun!" He looked down at his sandwich before he could see the soft look on his Uncle's face. It was still there though.

"Anytime Dewey, want do you want to do next?" But Dewey didn't know what he wanted to do so they went to sit on the deck while he thought of something. It had always been their place on the boat. And sometimes Huey and Louie had joined them but it was mostly for just the two of them.

As they sat there Dewey tried to thinking of something for them to do but he liked just sitting with his Uncle so he stopped. He knew it wasn't like him to sit still for very long but there was just something about that moment that made him want to. Maybe it was the peacefulness off it all or maybe it was the fact he was spending some one-on-one time with his Uncle, something he sadly hadn't done in a while. Either way he didn't want to move and he hoped his Uncle didn't either. 

He knew his Uncle did things the three of them wanted to do all the time but that was just to make them happy. He wasn't sure if he ever actually had fun doing that stuff, if he actually wanted to. And he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. But, he had to ask. 

"Do you have fun with us Uncle Donald?" 

Donald looked at him surprised, "Of course I do, I always have fun with you kids. Why do you ask?" He asked concernedly but Dewey had come to realize he was always concerned about them. Must've been part of being an Uncle, but their other Uncles hadn't ever seemed as concerned as he was... 

"We always make you do stuff that we want to do and you go along with it to make us happy. But I don't know if it's what you actually want to do, and I don't wanna make you do things you don't want to." He softly admitted. 

Donald smiled at him, "I don't care what we're doing as long as we're together." He assured him. "I love spending time with you kids, it's my favorite thing to do. And I love that you want me to be apart of the things you like. Besides if I didn't want to go along with something I would say so, that's what your siblings do right?" Dewey nodded. "Then you need to trust that I'll do the same. But I'm sure I won't have to, like I said all I care about is spending time with you." 

"I care about spending time with you too, sorry I haven't been doing it too much lately." Dewey said trying not to sound guilty, he didn't want his Uncle to feel sorry for him. Then he wouldn't let him apologize but it was Dewey's fault and he had to. He would keep feeling bad until he did. 

"It's okay Dewey, things have changed. You three have a friend and more family and adventures to go on, it can't be like it was before we moved into the mansion. And that's okay, it's a good thing but it means we can't hang out as much as we used to. It doesn't mean we can't ever hang out, we can anytime you want to. Just say the word." He promised which made Dewey grin and hug him. And he knew his Uncle would end up having similar conversations with his siblings but this one was all his. Right now was his time. 

"Thank you." 

After that they sat in silence for a while but it wasn't awkward, it never was with his Uncle. Instead it was calm and peaceful and something Dewey didn't know he needed. He didn't know he needed this day at all but he was very glad to have it. And he was very glad to have it with his Uncle Donald. There were only two people he'd also want to have it with, but it wouldn't be the same. He knew it wouldn't and that was okay, because he needed days like this with his Uncle. They had a lot in common, a lot more than he realized but he was happy that they did. There was no one he'd rather be like. 

And he was looking forward to them getting even closer as time passed. 


	55. Bond of Siblings Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dewey thinks of how close he and his siblings are.  
> Set sometime after Huey's arc.

It was clear Dewey loved both of his siblings and didn't have a favorite but sometimes he preferred to be around Louie. The two of them had always gotten along pretty well, unless they were in a fight but that didn't happen as much as you would think. Bickering sure, they did that daily but actually fighting? That was a rare thing between them. He also liked to think they knew each other pretty well and that that contributed to why they fought so little. They knew if one of them was looking for a fight or was just mad at the world and they made them talk about it instead. 

He wanted Louie to look up to him, to be the one they went to when they were scared. He wanted to know they cared about him just as much as they did Huey. Because sometimes it didn't feel that way, and sometimes that was his own fault. But he knew there were some things they came to him about, things only he would understand and that made him feel good, like they really did need him. And they also came to him when they needed to goof off and forget about things for a while. He was the best at that and he loved when they did that. They were always really fun to be around and he liked being able to help them however he could. 

But they also helped him, he always went to them when he had a problem, they always knew what to say to help him. And he counted on them to make him feel better when he was having one of his bad days. They were the only one who could, everyone else took everything too personal and Louie knew how bad bad days were better than any of them. He also went to them when he had troubling sleeping and when he wanted to just hang out and do nothing, they were an expert in both of those subjects. 

He was really glad he had a sibling like Louie, he didn't know what he'd do without them. They were one of his best friends, one of the people he was closest to and one of the people he could never tire of. He constantly worried that they didn't care about him or need him, that they preferred Huey. He already felt distanced from Huey sometimes, he didn't want that with them too. 

And that was the reason he had trouble sleeping that night. And why he was in his sibling's bed, not that he planned on telling them that. But they had a way of forcing it out of him, though he was still hesitant so instead he said, "I'm really glad you're my sibling Lou." 

"I am too." They promised him and he weakly smiled. 

"Sometimes I worry you don't need me." He softly admitted. "That you prefer Huey and just put up with me cause you have to. That you only pretend like you need me to make me feel good." And that was his worst fear, his siblings not needing him. 

"Dewey." They sighed. "How could I not need you? You're my brother, of course I need you. Who else is gonna goof off with me? Who else is gonna keep my mind off of things? If you weren't around I'd constantly be thinking of the bad stuff and that's really scary." 

"Huey could do that stuff too." He protested but they shook their head. 

"No, not like you can. I'd be lost without you Dewey, I need both of you in my life. More importantly I _want_ both of you in my life, I want you to be my brother." He didn't know if it was because he was tired but he really felt like crying after that. He wouldn't though. 

"Thanks Lou. That made me feel better." 

"Great glad that's settled, maybe now we can get some sleep." Dewey quietly chuckled and agreed though he didn't fall asleep as fast as his younger sibling did. He was content to just watch them for a while, they had always looked peaceful in their sleep. He was really lucky to have them, he just hoped they knew that. 

* * *

He and Huey weren't as close, it was both of their faults really but things were improving. And it didn't mean that he cared about him any less, because he didn't. It just wasn't always easy to express. They fought a lot and that was probably part of the reason why but as much as they fought they were just as quick to back each other up. That was just how brothers worked sometimes and he wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Dewey knew Huey always came to him when he was stressed and trusted him to calm him down. And he hated seeing his brother like that so he did his best to do that, it had to of worked cause he kept coming back. He was also the one who kept the bullies off of his back, he gave them someone else to target so they would leave his brother alone. He could handle whatever they threw at him but he knew Huey couldn't. He always took them way too seriously and that was why Dewey also made it his job to convince him they were wrong. Huey had enough going on without worrying about what some jerks were saying about him.

And he always trusted his brother to look out for him, to keep him safe. He wasn't blind, he knew he got too reckless sometimes and that he was super impulsive but it never mattered that much because Huey was always right behind him. And as much as he wanted to stand out and be his own person he found comfort in the fact that his brother was always right there. That he would always be there to help him, it was why he found him so easy to talk to sometimes. Huey may not have always understood but he was always there to help. 

He was really glad to have a brother like Huey, he didn't know what he'd do without him. He was one of his best friends, one of the people he was closest to and one of the people he could never tire of. He just wished they didn't fight so much, that they could get along better. They had had their problems and he thought they had worked them all out, but sometimes it didn't feel like it. 

"Hey Huey?" He said once when they were hanging out by themselves. "Thanks for being my brother." 

"Oh it's your turn," Huey replied knowingly. "It's no problem at all. What's going on?" 

He sighed, "We're still fighting a lot, why are we still fighting a lot? We talked everything out, we should be good now but we keep fighting. I just don't get it." He looked down just in time to miss his brother's softened face.

"I don't know either Dewey, I don't want to fight we just, do. And we've done it for so long that I don't know how to not do it. But maybe that's the problem, we've been fighting for about as long as we could talk we don't know any different. So we're just gonna have to learn it and we're gonna do it together." Huey swore and that made Dewey grin, if they were in it together they would definitely do it. 

"Together." He echoed and Huey matched his grin. "Does this mean we're really okay now?" 

"As long as we have each other we'll always be okay." 

Dewey's grin thinned a little bit, "I hope so." He wanted it to be that easy but it didn't always feel that easy. Though it was something his brother strongly believed him so what did he know? And if his siblings believed in something so did he. 

He ended up watching Huey read for the rest of the time they hung out, he felt really lucky to have him as a brother and knew that he knew that. He had already gone through this whole thing after all. 

* * *

But to be honest Dewey needed both of them and would be lost without either of them, he may of needed them for different things most times but he still needed both of them. He knew he could be selfish at times but they made him want to not be, they made him care about what happens to them by nothing more than just being themselves. They made him want to be a better person. But they also made him want to take care of himself, something he wasn't the best at. And they made him feel happy about doing that and about caring about them, like he was doing something right. Like he was a good brother.

And that was the best feeling in the world. 

"I'm really lucky to have you guys." He said to them one day and they both gave him a look that suggested they had seen this coming. Though he knew they definitely had, after Huey had had it they knew it was only a matter of time before the other two would as well. 

"We're really lucky to have you too." Huey assured him. "Did anything happen or is this like mine?" 

"It's like yours, I just started thinking about it. I'm just really glad you're my siblings. Like I could've been paired with anyone but it was you guys, I couldn't ask for anything better. And I know if I had been paired with other people, we wouldn't be as close as we are. I need you guys, and no matter what happens I'll always need you guys. That'll never change, I just hope we always stay this close. I love you guys." 

"I love you too." Both of them said and he grinned at them, he knew that they did but it was always nice hearing it. 

"You guys are the best. I know I probably don't tell you that enough but you are. I really don't know what I'd do without you but I know that I won't ever have to find out. And that makes me really happy." It really did, the fact that he now knew for sure he would always have them was amazing. There wasn't anything he could do to lose them, not that he would try. 

"I'm glad you know that." Louie said softly. 

"Me too," Dewey responded. "I spent so long being worried about that and now I'm not, it's great." He hadn't liked worrying about that, he hadn't liked not having faith in his siblings. But now he did, he had so much it was honestly overwhelming at times. He didn't care though, it was better than before. 

"I think we all worried about that, but now we know better." Huey's siblings nodded in agreement, they did and they always would. 

"Well, I'm glad it's you guys. Like I said, I don't think I'd be this close to anyone else, I'm not this close to anyone else. And maybe at one point I had a problem with that but now I don't, I don't wanna be this close with anyone else." 

"Couldn't of put it better myself, Dewdrop." Huey smirked and he and Louie laughed as Dewey pushed him off the couch. 

"That is not back again!" He tackled his brother and they wrestled as Louie continued laughing above them. He ended up pulling them down with them and the three of them wrestled for a few moments.

They went back to doing their own things after that. Which was fine with him, it wasn't the first time that happened and it wouldn't be the last. But it was a testament to how close they were, the fact that they could do their own things while they were together and still have fun was a really cool thing in his opinion. It was one of the perks of being a triplet and one of his favorite things in the world, to be able to be that close to someone, to two someones. He knew he would never be this close to anyone else. He knew there would never be anyone else he could fully be himself with or that he could trust with anything and everything. And he knew that what he had here, right now with his siblings he would never have anywhere else, with anyone else. 

And he was so glad it was with them. 


End file.
